Live: Fears for plane as contact lost

Follow our live updates on the Malaysian plane that went missing on Saturday with 239 on board.

02:52 March 12

China will adjust its search for the missing MH370 over an expanded range and involve more Chinese ships in the rescue work, the emergency team said Tuesday.

A total of seven Chinese vessels are in the area now with another due to arrive on Wednesday morning, said He Jianzhong, deputy head of the emergency team.

No suspect floating objects or undersea traces had been detected by 6 pm Tuesday after searching for an area of 6,000 square kilometers.

23:15 March 11

Special: Malaysia Airlines plane missing

Vietnam has widened the search for the missing Malaysian jetliner to the further east and west of the Gulf of Thailand. Meanwhile its joint operation with Malaysia near the Strait of Malacca has so far made little progress, said Do Minh Tuan, deputy commander of the air force at a press conference here Tuesday.

He told reporters that no suspected debris or other objects from the missing aircraft had been found and some of the objects found earlier were later dismissed as irrelevant to the jetliner after lab tests. These included the white floating objects reported by the Americans, which turned out to have nothing to do with the missing air plane.

21:30 March 11

Seven Chinese search and rescue vessels have been searching for the missing flight MH370. Another one will join the action on Wednesday morning, said China's transportation authorities.

The flotilla will adjust its search plan by expanding search scope and coordinating passing Chinese merchant ships for the search and rescue mission.

20:40 March 11

There is still no trace of the aircraft which vanished early on Saturday, 88 hours after its disappearance, said a spokesman for Malaysian Airlines in Beijing on Tuesday.

20:05 March 11

China's Air Force said that two of its planes conducted a three-hour search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane on Tuesday.

20:00 March 11

Five Chinese search and rescue vessels, including two warships, were searching for missing flight MH370 as of 3 pm Beijing time, the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center said Tuesday.

19:30 March 11

Malaysian police named one as Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, 18, and said he was probably migrating to Germany.

Interpol identified the other as Delavar Seyed Mohammadreza, 29. (BBC)

19:00 March 11

Malaysia's military believes it tracked missing plane on radar to Strait of Malacca, military source says. (Reuters)

17:00 March 11

The Chinese task force that arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday morning to work on matters dealing with missing Flight MH370 opened an account on Sina Weibo, updating its activities.

16:00 March 11

A photo of Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, a 19-year-old Iranian man who used the stolen passport to board the missing plane, was shown at a press conference held by local government in Kuala Lumpur. [Photo by Peng Yining/chinadaily.com.cn]

Photos of two stolen passport users. [Photo by Peng Yining/chinadaily.com.cn]

15:35 March 11

China has called on the Malaysian government to step up efforts to search for the missing plane and also to take care of the families of the passengers, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Qin Gang said at a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday.

15:15 March 11

A 19-year-old Iranian man, Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad, used the stolen passport to board the missing plane. But he was not thought to be a terrrorist.

Malaysian police are looking at four explanations for disappearance and studying the behavior of all passengers.

Khalid Abu Bakar, inspector general of Malaysia police, said one stolen passport user was Iranian asylum seeker and the second stolen passport user is still being investigated.

(BBC)

15:00 March 11

Chinese Embassy in Malaysia has told Xinhua on Monday said the Malaysia has dismissed media reports that hijacking, mid-air disintegration and radar malfuctioning led to the missing of MH 370 flight.

13:57 March 11

A sign filled with well wishes to the passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 reads "Have Hope" at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Thursday. The so-far fruitless search for a missing Malaysian airliner entered its fourth day.

13:45 March 11

China has deployed 10 satellites to help in the massive air and sea search for a missing Malaysian airliner, the People's Liberation Army Daily said on Tuesday.

The satellites will use high-resolution earth imaging capabilities, visible light imaging and other technologies to "support and assist in the search and rescue operations for the Malaysian Airlines aircraft", the newspaper said in an article that was also carried on the defence ministry's website.

13:37 March 11

Highlights of Malaysia Airlines' 11th statement:

Search and rescue efforts for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have been expanded beyond the flight path and the focus now is "on the West Peninsula of Malaysia at the Straits of Malacca."

"Apart from the search in the sea, search on land in between these areas is also conducted," said the airline.

The missing aircraft underwent maintenance about two weeks ago, with no safety problems found, the carrier announced.

The aircraft was delivered to Malaysia Airlines in 2002 and has since recorded 53,465.21 hours with a total of 7,275 cycles.

01:25 March 11

Vietnam's search and rescue teams will move the focus of their search toward the eastern part of the air route of the missing Malaysian jetliner, a Vietnamese army officer was quoted by state-run news agency VNA as saying Monday.

Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of the People's Army of Vietnam said the readjustment in focus is aimed to have a greater chance to find the missing plane.

At press conference Monday evening in Vietnam's southern Phu Quoc Island, Vietnamese authorities said they would widen their search by some 20,000 km from Tuesday. More than 100 domestic and foreign reporters who came to cover the multinational search mission attended the press conference.

00:20 March 11

Malaysia Airlines will fly MH370 passengers' families from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur, according to the company website Monday.

The company is deploying an aircraft to bring the families from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur on March 11, but will reveal nothing of the flight or the families' movements to protect their privacy.

22:35 March 10

China is making every effort to find the Malaysian Airlines jet, Flight MH370, which has been missing since early Saturday morning along with more than 150 Chinese passengers, officials said on Monday.

Missile frigate Mianyang from the South Sea Fleet of the People's Liberation Army navy is searching for signs of survivors, having arrived at the suspected crash site at 3:50 am on Monday, three hours earlier than expected, according to a statement released by the navy.

The ship has been using all of its detection apparatus in the hunt for the missing aircraft, including optical instruments to search for floating debris.

21:45 March 10

Beijing will provide legal aid for relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, said government authorities on Monday.

Beijing has paid for psychological counselling, emergency rescue services, as well as a "green channel" for passport applications. The government has also ensured their accommodation, travel costs and other services, he said.

21:15 March 10

Malaysia's authorities confirmed on Monday that the two passengers boarding on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane with false passports are not with Asian appearance.

19:35 March 10

A Chinese search vessel is expected to arrive by 20:00 Beijing time Monday at the site where a Malaysian aircraft carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers, including 154 Chinese, lost contact early on Saturday.

The vessel was within 70 nautical miles from the site at 16:00, captain Peng Jianbo told Xinhua by satellite phone.

The vessel is equipped with searchlights, search radar and night vision goggles and is capable of search and rescue at night.

19:30 March 10

China's Xi'an Satellite Control Center said 10 of its satellites will provide technical support for the search and rescue operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.

18:55 March 10

Tests on a sample of the oil slick found off the Kelantan coast reveal that it was not from the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight, according to the local media.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Eastern Region chief Datuk Nasir Adam revealed test results showed that the samples were actually from a ship.

17:00 March 10

The floating object was not a lifeboat, said Vietnamese rescue and search team. (Reuters)

16:13 March 10

Vietnam is sending aircraft to check up if a lifeboat-like flating object found at sea coms from the missing Maylasian Airlines jet.

15:30 March 10

China's Coast Guard claimed it found a 20km long, 200m wide oil slick.

Chinese maritime vessel, China Coast Guard 3411, has been engaged in search and rescue of the missing Malaysian plane in waters around the suspected accident location since Sunday afternoon.

15:25 March 10

Liu Zhi, a senior Beijing municipal official, said both the central and municipal governments have launched an emergency mechanism and they will “not allow any lapses”. He also said the authorities will set up information centers at the hotels where relatives of passengers are waiting for news about their loved ones, and they also aim to hire lawyers and provide medical and counseling services for the relatives.

14:41 March 10

Zhai Leiming, director-general of the Department of Consular Affairs of China's Foreign Ministry, said that a close friend of his is among the passengers on the missing Malaysia Airline jetliner. Zhai also told the family members at the Lido Hotel in Beijing on Monday afternoon that he shares the pain with them.

14:00 March 10

Vietnam allowed Chinese and US vessels to enter its waters to search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight, said Vietnam's National Committee for Search and Rescue Monday.

According to the committee, three Chinese vessels and one US vessel were licensed by the Vietnamese defense ministry.

13:27 March 10

A Malaysian official said Monday that no confirmed debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has been found yet.

"Unfortunately ... we have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft itself," Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of the Department of Civil Aviation, said at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur.

12:35 pm March 10

Hijacking could not be ruled out and all possibilities were being investigated into the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines jet, the chief Malaysian investigator said on Monday, Reuters reported.

The investigator said Vietnamese authorities have not confirmed sighting any debris from the plane.

12:24 pm March 10

Malaysia Airlines will fly family members of Chinese passengers to Kuala Lumpur and accommodate them in hotels around the capital city of Malaysia, said the company at a press conference on Monday.

12:07 pm March 10

Malaysia Airlines is holding a news conference in Kuala Lumpur now.

12:07 pm March 10

First family member of a passenger on board the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner will arrive in Kuala Lumpur on Monday afternoon, according to Chinese Embassy in Malaysia. (people.com.cn)

11:10 March 10

Malaysia Airlines issued its 9th statement.

The company is still not able to establish any positive findings on the whereabouts of the aircraft, according to the statement.

The airline will cover the expenses of transporting family members of passengers to Malaysia, saying "the company's primary focus at this point it to care for the families."

The company will provide them with "timely information, travel facilities, accommodation, meals, medical and emotional support." All the costs are borne by Malaysia Airlines, said the company.

10:43 March 10

Malaysian Airline System Bhd's (MAS) share price sinks to a record low in early trading on Monday, as the search for its missing MH370 jet bound for Beijing continues into its third day. The shares tumbled 16 per cent after the FBM KLCI - Malaysia,s stock exchange - opened at 9am, Straits Times reported.

09:50 March 10

Vietnamese aircraft spotted what they suspected was one of the doors of a missing Boeing 777 on Sunday, while questions emerged about how two passengers managed to board the ill-fated aircraft using stolen passports, AP reported.

09:05 March 10

Early reports from local Southeast Asia news of found plane are in error. The search continues. Our deepest concerns remain with the families of those on board.

08:40 March 10

Officials investigating the disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner with 239 people on board suspect it may have disintegrated in mid-flight, a senior source said on Sunday, as Vietnam reported a possible sighting of wreckage from the plane.

02:05 March 10

The Chinese government will send a working group later Monday morning to Malaysia for handling the aftermath of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight.

The group is scheduled to leave Beijing on March 10 morning and arrive in the country later the same day.

According to the website of China's Foreign Ministry, the group is composed of officials with the foreign ministry, ministry of public security, transport ministry and civil aviation administration.

It aims to coordinate with Chinese Embassy in Malaysia to handle the relevant issues, including urging the Malaysian side to speed up search and rescue mission, investigating the incident and helping the family members already in Malaysia.