BEIJING, March 8 -- Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Saturday convened an urgent inter-ministerial meeting on the missing Malaysian fight bound for Beijing with more than 150 Chinese nationals on board.

Wang stressed that all ministries should immediately start work and strengthen coordination to deal with the incident.

According to a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, China requested countries concerned try their best in search and rescue, and properly handle Chinese passengers related issues.

At the same time, China sent vessels and planes to assist the rescue work and asked vessels passing relevant areas to help. The meeting also called for verifications of the situation of those who on board as soon as possible, for passengers' relatives to be consoled, and for the public to be kept informed, said the release.

Senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Commerce, National Health and Family Planning Commission, General Administration of Customs, National Tourism Administration, Civil Aviation Administration of China and other government departments attended the meeting.

The Beijing-bound flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200, departed Malaysia's capital of Kuala Lumpur at 0:42 a.m. (Beijing Time) on Saturday, and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. the same day. The plane is carrying 239 people.