PHNOM PENH, March 14 -- Cambodian government spokesman Khieu Kanharith on Friday expressed deep sympathy to the family members of the passengers aboard the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which vanished on March 8.

"Such situation is a grave concern for the family members of the passengers onboard the missing plane," he told reporters. "We 'd like to share our deep concern over the safety of those passengers and to extend our condolences to their family members."

Kanharith, who is also minister of information, encouraged search and rescue teams to continue their operations until there is a glimmer of hope.

The plane with 227 passengers and 12 crew members onboard went missing on its way from Malaysia's Kuala Lumpur to China's Beijing early Saturday, the airlines said, adding that it lost communication and radar signal two hours into the flight over south Vietnam at 1:20 a.m.

According to the carrier, a total of 154 Chinese were onboard the plane.

Forty-two ships and 39 aircraft from 12 countries, including China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore and the United States, are scouring the waters around Flight MH370's last known location, but no solid clues have been found so far.

Vice Admiral Tea Sokha, commander of the Cambodian Maritime Space, said early this week that Cambodia had not joined the search operations since the country has only small ships and limited human resources.