So far, no clues had been found in spite of China’s great efforts to search and rescue the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which vanished on Saturday.
The largest patrol vessel in South China Sea, Haixun 31, arrived the sea at 4.58pm on Tuesday where the Beijing-bound MH370 flight from Kuala Lumpur might have lost contact.
The shipboard helicopters started the air searching mission on 5.10pm, according to Guangdong Maritime Safety Administration.
Meanwhile, the second Chinese naval warship, Jianggangshan, cruised into position on Tuesday morning, formed a unit with Mianyang and promptly started search operations.
The South China Sea rescue vessel, with hull number 115, joined the search on Tuesday as well.
According to the Chinese Navy, another warship is expected to reach the area on Wednesday morning and a depot ship has been ordered to prepare for moving into the Gulf of Thailand to replenish the searching vessels.
Contact with the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was lost along with its radar signal at 1.20am Beijing time on Saturday as it was flying over the Ho Chi Minh City air traffic control area in Vietnam.
The flight was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers, including 154 Chinese.
The first batch of family members of the passengers on the missing flight arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Beijing on Tuesday morning.
According to the joint working group of the Chinese government, which received the family members at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, there are 12 relatives of the passengers, including nine Chinese and three Indians.
The family members did not meet with the media waiting for their arrival and they have been accommodated by the Malaysia Airlines in hotels around Kuala Lumpur.
The carrier has arranged an assistant for each relative and pledged to keep them informed.
The company has offered a “special consolation payment” of $5049.9 for each family of the passengers on board the missing flight.
The money has been sent to the families at 6pm.
Although the company said the consolation payment is not the final compensation, some relatives of the passengers were still cautious about the money and refused to take it at the moment.
At Hotel of Lido in Beijing, where most of the relatives are staying in, volunteers were there to provide psychological support and keep them company.
“There is still no trace of the aircraft which vanished early on Saturday,” said a spokesman for Malaysian Airlines in Beijing.
Xinhua/NAN.
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