Anguish and anger as families wait for news

The sound of weeping filled a hotel conference room in Beijing yesterday as some 120 relatives and friends gathered in the hope of news on their loved ones aboard the missing Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777.

A young woman wept aloud as a friend hugged her tight, while an elderly mother cried in anguish over the unknown fate of her 40-year-old son.

Some had been sobbing for hours, while others sat quietly in their seats, offering silent prayers.

Many others simply sat on the floor, their faces etched with anguish.

One woman resting her head against a wall told Xinhua news agency that her husband was on the plane and that they had spoken by phone on Friday night.

An elderly man wept in a corridor as his son and a woman patted his shoulders, trying to offer some comfort. “Dad, it will be OK,” his son sought to assure him.

"It will be fine,” added the woman. “We heard that the plane made an emergency landing, so let’s pray.”

Some relatives overcome by anguish fainted and were taken to hotel rooms to recover.

Some said they would fly to Vietnam for news on their loved ones.

But amidst the grief was also anger, as Chinese relatives of passengers on Flight MH370 accused Malaysia Airlines of keeping them in the dark.

At one point, around 20 people stormed out, enraged they had been given no information.

"There’s no one from the airline here, we can’t find a single person. They’ve just shut us in this room and told us to wait,” said one middle-aged man.

"We want someone to show their face. They haven’t even given us the passenger list,” he said.

Another relative muttered: “They’re treating us worse than dogs.”

A woman from Tianjin in northern China sobbed as she spoke. “My husband was on the plane and we have a young kid back at home. Our child could not live without a father.”

She said no airline staff had shown up and was angry at the lack of communication.

At a briefing in a conference room at the hotel earlier, a spokesperson from Malaysia Airlines offered no further updates, saying they were still working to locate the plane.

Meanwhile in Malaysia, the airline told passengers’ next of kin to come to Kuala Lumpur’s international airport with their passports to prepare to fly to the crash site, which had still not been located.

Between 20 and 30 families were being kept in a holding room at the airport, where they were guarded by security officials and kept away from reporters.