China urges Malaysia to continue MH370 search

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang called on Malaysia to continue all efforts to find the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared in March last year while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

China's call came after the Malaysian government officially declared Thursday that flight MH370 met with an accident, and all the people on board were presumed dead.

During a joint press conference with the visiting French Prime Minister Manuel Valls here, Li expressed deep sympathy for all the people on board the ill-fated plane, including 154 Chinese nationals and four French nationals, according a Xinhua report.

"It is a hard time for the families of everyone on board (the plane) and all of us as well," Li said.

The Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200 aircraft, with 239 passengers and crew aboard, disappeared March 8 last year 40 minutes after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing.

Neither the wreckage of the aircraft, nor the bodies of those on board have been found yet, although search teams continue to comb an area spanning 60,000 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean along an arc stretching from the west coast of Australia.

Li said that China, along with the international community, have spared no efforts in investigating the incident and offering help to the families of the passengers since the aircraft went missing.

"...the Chinese government will continue its search and other related work," said Li.

"We hope Malaysia will act on its commitment and continue search and investigation efforts, fulfill its compensation obligation... make every possible effort to find the whereabouts of the plane and the passengers," the premier said.