China will never give up efforts to find missing plane, Li vows

China will never give up rescue and search efforts for passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane that had 154 Chinese people on board, Premier Li Keqiang said.

Li made the remarks on Thursday as he answered questions from the media following the conclusion of the 12th National People's Congress.

“Families are anxious. We are also anxiously waiting for information, for a small bit of good news,” he said in reply to the first question he was asked at the key annual media conference.

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200 aircraft, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, vanished from radar screens on Saturday about two hours after it took off from Kuala Lumpur.

More than 30 aircraft and 40 ships from various countries have searched the waters between Malaysia and Vietnam.

China has dispatched eight ships to the area, and other vessel is on the way, Li said, and Chinese government has initiated emergency response procedures.

On Wednesday, Li was in telephone contact with the captain of a search and rescue vessel and stressed the importance of making every effort to locate the plane.

China also utilized 10 satellites in the search and floating objects they found may be linked to the missing plane.

Li said the rescue mission is an international mission and China is playing a key part in it.

China will increase international cooperation to ensure the safety of Chinese people and assets overseas and China will always ensure airline security measures, Li said.