Family, friends awaiting news at Lido hotel

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.

The Boeing 777-200 carrying 239 people - including 154 Chinese - disappeared over the South China Sea early Saturday morning.

At least 200 reporters from more than 100 media worldwide packed the hall and the second floor of the hotel. They were either waiting outside the conference room where the relatives and friends of the missing passengers were resting, or occupied any seats and places they could find. A majority of them had been at the hotel since 10 am.

The door of the Yuxuan Room, a medium-sized conference room on the second floor, was closed with a male guard on each side. No reporters were permitted inside.

A hotel chef surnamed Dai said the hotel prepared lunchboxes for passengers' family members and friends.

As soon as anyone left the room, journalists would immediately surround the person. But none of the family members and friends seemed to be friendly to the reporters, and one middle-aged woman became angry after many cameras faced her with lights flashing. The woman berated the reporters, telling them to stop, her voice trembling with emotion.

A man in his late 20s surnamed Zhang said his best friend is on the missing plane. Zhang came to the hotel with his friend's parents.

"We have been waiting inside the hotel conference room for several hours, but except for several volunteers that handed out several forms for relatives to fill in their personal information, so far, no staff from Malaysia Airlines has come to meet us," Zhang said.

"There are about 100 people inside the room. For the first several hours, many people lost control of their emotions, and tears, crying and anxiety filled the room. They calmed down eventually."

Zhang declined to provide any information about his friend before returning quickly to the room.

Early Saturday morning, many people waited at Beijing Capital International Airport's Terminal 3 before being told to go to the Metropark to wait for further news.

"We knew nothing about the flight except that it was delayed. It was through a micro blog that I knew that it was missing," said Zhang Jianhui, a 36-year-old Malaysian who was waiting for his friend, whom he identified only as Cheung.

Zhang's wife, Zhai Le, a 33-year-old Malaysian-Chinese, said they were planning to take their friend for a tour around China and have been at the airport since about 6 am, when the flight was supposed to arrive.

"We were planning to visit the Palace Museum and other tourist spots in Beijing and later go to Xi'an to see the Terracotta Warriors," he said. "But now, the only thing we can do is wait."

There were also a few relatives and friends who couldn't stop crying when surrounded by the media. Most of them declined to answer interview requests.

For many, the media have been the sole sources of the latest information, and some people were unhappy with the slow reaction from Malaysia Airlines.

"Nobody contacted us, and we knew nothing until we saw the news on the TV," said a man who was at the airport with his sister.

The three members of her daughter's family are all on board the missing plane.

The missing-flight information was removed from the airport's arrival boards in the afternoon.

Contact the writers through hena@chinadaily.com.cn.