'Don't you all have families?'

AFP correspondent Neil Connor in Beijing reported seeing a man who appeared to be in his sixties entering a room, wiping tears from his eyes with a handkerchief, and punching a cameraman in the face when he tried to film him as he walked by.

At the same time a security shouted "Don't you all have families."

Hamid Ramlan, a 56-year-old policeman living in the capital Kuala Lumpur, told AFP that his daughter, 34, and son in law, 24, were on the flight.

"My wife is crying. Everyone is sad. My house has become a place of mourning. This is Allah's will. We have to accept it. But we will from tonight hold special prayers for Allah's help. I want to see my daughter and her husband who were on the flight to Beijing for a holiday," he says.

"There was no premonition that something bad will happen. I drove them to the airport. We hugged and my daughter was so happy to go on the trip. Being a policeman over 33 years, this is my worst day," he adds.

Some 10 people have gathered inside their small police apartment quarters to offer condolences with more expected to come.

Airport wait

At the Kuala Lumpur airport an AFP photographer reports similar scenes to those in Beijing, with relatives, some in tears, coming and going from a specially designated waiting area at the airport. Most decline to speak to the media.