Quicken efforts to find plane, Malaysia asked

Premier Li Keqiang speaks by telephone on Wednesday with the captain of a Chinese ship helping with the search for the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200. Li called on Chinese government departments involved in the mission to mobilize all forces and intensify their efforts. [Photo provided to China Daily]

China urged Malaysia on Wednesday to accelerate its search and rescue work for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane and to strengthen coordination among search forces from different countries and regions.

"We won't give up as long as there is a shred of hope, and we urge Malaysia not to miss any clue and speed up search and rescue work," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

"We hope to enhance communication with Malaysia and strengthen coordination with search and rescue ships from other countries," Qin said.

Malaysia Airlines flight 370 was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing early on Saturday with 239 people on board, including 154 Chinese nationals, when the Boeing 777-200 vanished from radar screens.

The multinational search entered its fifth day on Wednesday.

Nearly 40 aircraft and 42 ships from 12 countries and regions, including China, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam, are scouring the waters around the jet's last known location, but no substantive clues have been found. China has sent eight ships and several aircraft to help with the search.

Malaysia Airlines said search efforts have been extended to land.

A Chinese work team sent to Kuala Lumpur headed by Guo Shaochun, deputy director of consular affairs at the Foreign Ministry, held a three-hour meeting on Wednesday with the Chinese passengers' family members who arrived in the Malaysian capital.

Guo called on Malaysia to provide timely and accurate information to the family members, saying that items of information from various sources are quite complicated and sometimes contradictory.

"The Chinese work team requires a smooth flow of information be maintained. We will not leave until the aircraft is located," Guo said.

He Jianzhong, head of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, said Chinese vessels searching a suspected crash site are equipped with five helicopters and 12 professional divers.

The search area will be extended, he added.

Relatives in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur have been frustrated by a lack of accurate information.