Beijing, China - Relatives of passengers lost on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 gathered in Beijing Friday, still seeking answers and holding out hope a decade after the plane mysteriously vanished.

Relatives of passengers on board the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, speak with police outside a meeting opposite China’s Foreign Ministry in Beijing on March 8, 2024, on the 10th anniversary of the flight’s disappearance. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)

The Boeing 777 aircraft disappeared from radar screens carrying 239 people on March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Despite the largest search in aviation history, the plane has never been found.

And on Friday family members in China's capital city appealed to Beijing to continue the search that was called off over seven years ago.

Li Shuce, who lost his son on the plane, told gathering media he remained "hopeful".

"I believe our kid is still alive. We are looking forward to him returning soon," he said, following discussions with government officials near the country's foreign ministry.

"He was a great kid," he added.

On Friday afternoon, more than a dozen people including Li gathered at an intersection near the Malaysian embassy in Beijing, the road to which was sealed off by a row of police officers.

Grieving attendees first consoled each other at the entrance, before shouting: "Malaysia, return our loved ones!"

A group of demonstrators -- one holding a letter addressed to Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim -- was allowed to pass the police line and approach the embassy.

They emerged almost 20 minutes later but did not talk to journalists standing in a cordoned-off area nearby.

Following the plane's 2014 disappearance, an Australia-led search that covered 120,000 square kilometres (46,000 square miles) in the Indian Ocean found hardly any trace of the plane, with only some pieces of debris picked up.

The operation was suspended in January 2017.

The plane's disappearance has long been the subject of theories -- ranging from the credible to outlandish -- including that veteran pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had gone rogue.

A final report into the tragedy released in 2018 pointed to failings by air traffic control and said the course of the plane was changed manually.

But ten years on, relatives are still desperate for answers.

In Beijing, Li on Friday urged the Chinese government to "quickly find our loved ones and figure out what the actual facts of the situation are".

"It's been 10 years already. And now what's going on with getting to the bottom of (it)? Is it a government conspiracy or what?" he said.

"We don't know anything."