Most of the passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight to Beijing are Chinese citizens, the airline said Saturday.
At a news conference late Saturday morning, Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, the airline's chief executive, said 153 Chinese, including an infant, were among the 227 passengers aboard Flight MH370 when it lost contact with air traffic control about 2:40 a.m. Saturday (1:40 p.m. ET Friday). A second infant was among four Americans on board, it said.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi acknowledged the "very disturbing news" at a news briefing, telling reporters, "We hope every one of the passengers is safe."
"The Foreign Ministry and the relevant diplomatic and consular missions of China have activated an emergency mechanism," Wang said.
"We are doing all we can to get more details," he added. "Once we have some information, we will get it out to you immediately."
— M. Alex Johnson
