Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad and his wife Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali this evening visited the families of passengers on board the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 in Putrajaya.

The one hour meeting with the families, who were placed at The Everly Hotel, was also joined by Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir and his wife Norzieta Zakaria.

Mahathir said he hoped nobody would point fingers at those who were conducting the search and rescue operation for the MH370 aircraft because it would not solve any problem.

Meanwhile, Mukhriz said he met four families of the passengers from Kedah and expressed his sympathy.

"I can imagine, it is very tough... they expressed their feelings that it was very hard to wait so long with little information... they also mentioned that preferably they did not want to be fed with false information that can raise their hopes.

"I hope those using the social media to be more sensitive about this matter," Mukhriz said.

MAS Flight MH370, carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew, went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing about an hour after taking off from the KL International Airport at 12.41am last Saturday.

It should have landed in Beijing at 6.30am.

Meanwhile, Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor also visited the families of passengers on board the missing MH370 aircraft at The Everly Hotel tonight.

He was accompanied by Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim.

- Bernama