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By Saturday afternoon, the rumours had started flying, and airline officials had to verify each one — all of which took time. Did the plane land in Nanning, a southern Chinese city? No, it did not. Was a crash off the Vietnam coast confirmed? It was not. Did Vietnamese officials detect the plane’s signal? Officials later denied it.

In the Lido Hotel, meanwhile, red-eyed relatives were seeing the rumours on smartphones but not hearing the airline’s verifications. Impatience grew.

After 30 hours had passed without contact with the plane, airline officials told the relatives to prepare for the worst. After about 36 hours, the relatives at the Lido issued their statement, and the man in the black shirt went before reporters.

All the information we’re getting is from the media. We, who are part of the relatives, feel that this is a very improper and indifferent way to treat the family members

“They’re still telling us they can’t find this plane,” the man said. “All the information we’re getting is from the media. We, who are part of the relatives, feel that this is a very improper and indifferent way to treat the family members.”

The airline should have been more communicative from the beginning, even if it didn’t have any news to provide, said Ira Kalb, a crisis management expert at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles.

“You have got to get out ahead of the story and you have got to do whatever you can to comfort the relatives of the people that were on the flight,” Kalb said. “If you don’t have all the information you just say: ‘Look, we’re investigating and we’re trying to get as much information as we can and as soon as we get it we’ll pass it on to you. ”’

By later Sunday, the airline was trying to speak more regularly with relatives and expedite passport and visa applications for those who wanted to go to Malaysia. Even that came under fire by some family members.

“We don’t want to go to Malaysia now,” Guo Qishun, whose son-in-law was on the missing plane, said Monday. “We are in China now and the Malaysia Airlines people still treat us with such a bad attitude, if we go to Malaysia, will they take care of us? I doubt it.”