MH370: Search for plane suspended due to bad weather

“We're throwing everything we have at this search,” Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Nine Network television.

“This is about the most inaccessible spot imaginable. It's thousands of kilometres from anywhere,” he later told Seven Network television.

Malaysia has been criticized over its handling of one of the most perplexing mysteries in aviation history. Much of the most strident criticism has come from relatives of the Chinese passengers, some of whom expressed outrage that Malaysia essentially declared their loved ones dead without recovering a single piece of wreckage.

At a hotel banquet room in Beijing on Wednesday, a delegation of Malaysian government and airline officials explained what they knew to the relatives. They were met with skepticism and even ridicule by some of the 100 people in the audience, who questioned how investigators could have concluded the direction and speed of the plane. One man later said he wanted to pummel everyone in the Malaysian delegation.

“We still have hope, but it is tiny, tiny,” said Ma Xuemei, whose niece was on the flight. “All the information has been confusing and unreliable.”

China dispatched a special envoy to Kuala Lumpur, Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui, who met Prime Minister Najib Razak.

China's support for families is likely why authorities normally wary of any spontaneous demonstrations that could undermine social stability permitted a rare protest on Tuesday outside the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing. Relatives chanted slogans, threw water bottles and briefly tussled with police who kept them from a swarm of journalists.