Joint working group heads to Malaysia

Members of a government task force prepare to board at Beijing Capital International Airport, March 10, 2014. A Chinese government task force of 13 is leaving for Malaysia to work on the aftermath of missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370, March 10, 2014. [photo / China Daily]

The Chinese government sent a working group Monday morning to Malaysia for handling the aftermath of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight.[Special coverage: Searching for missing MH370]

According to earlier report, the 13-member group is composed of officials with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Transport and Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).

"The most pressing and important work remains search and rescue," said Guo Shaochun, deputy head of the Department of Consular Affairs with China's Foreign Ministry.

"We will call on the Malaysian side and other foreign parties involved in the rescue work to work together with Chinese planes and ships, to intensify research and rescue efforts, strengthen coordination and not to give up only if there is any hope," Guo, also head of the group, said.

He also said the working group planned to coordinate with Malaysia and other countries to investigate the incident.

According to Guo, some family members of passengers on board the missing flight will head for Malaysia with the arrangement of the Malaysian Airlines.

The group is scheduled to arrive in Malaysia on today's evening.

China has been making all-out efforts to locate the missing passengers on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, almost two-thirds of them from China.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft left Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 0:41 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. that day.

Contact with the flight was lost along with its radar signal at 2:40 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday when it was flying over the Ho Chi Minh air traffic control area in Vietnam.

The flight was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers, including 154 Chinese.