'Our team is currently calling the next of kin of passengers and crew,' said the airline's chief executive, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, as the airline issued a statement saying its 'thoughts and prayers' were with all those on board as well as their families.

Unconfirmed reports said it was believed the missing aircraft was involved in a crash in August 2017 when it damaged the tail of a China Eastern Airlines plane at Shanghai Pudong Airport.

The reports said that in that incident the tip of the wing of the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 broke off.

Crying relatives of Chinese passengers on board the plane wept at Beijing airport as it became clear the jet had probably crashed.

Retired American Airlines captain Jim Tilmon told CNN today (Sat) that 'it doesn't sound very good,' as the search continued for the missing jet.

'The route is mostly overland, which means there would be plenty of radars and radios to contact the plane. But if nothing has been heard...

'I've been trying to come up with every scenario that I could just to explain this away, but I haven't been very successful.'

Mr Tilmon said the jet was 'about as sophisticated as any commercial airplane could possibly be.'

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