About 100 relatives and friends of the passengers on Flight MH370 spent much of Saturday at the Metropark Lido Hotel in northeast Beijing, waiting for updates from Malaysia Airlines on its missing jetliner.
Several countries' joint efforts to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 239 people, including 154 Chinese, which was heading to Beijing, intensified late Saturday as the plane is presumed to have crashed into the ocean bordering Vietnam and Malaysia.
The United States officials are investigating terrorism concerns over the missing Malaysia Airlines plane after two people listed as passengers of the MH 370 flight were confirmed not on board, and their passports were reported stolen in Thailand.
President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang on Saturday urged emergency measures over the missing Malaysian flight bound for Beijing with more than 150 Chinese nationals on board.
Two vessels of the Chinese navy are on their way to sea area where missing Malaysia Airline flight MH 370 may have crashed. Developments in 24 hours
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Saturday denied reports that a missing Malaysian flight bound for Beijing had crashed.
The father of the Italian man who was thought to be on the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft, Luigi Maraldi, said on Saturday that his son had the passport stolen last August at a vehicle rental shop in Thailand.
Chinese travel agencies reported booking some flights on the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that went missing on Saturday, shortly after contact was lost with the plane.
Chinese aviation experts said it will be difficult to locate the missing aircraft due to technical reasons.
A 30-person group of Chinese artists and their families and staff were the largest group of passengers on the Malaysian Airlines MH370 flight.
The search and rescue team is yet to determine the whereabouts of the Boeing 777-200 aircraft, Malaysia Airlines said in its sixth media statement. LIVE
At this stage, they have failed to find evidence of any wreckage. The sea mission will continue overnight while the air mission will recommence at daylight.