( CNN ) -- For Hasif Nazri , the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 contained a tragic coincidence . Two friends from two different periods of his life -- both unknown to each other -- were on board the flight . But as time goes by , the 33-year-old Malaysian process engineer says hope is fading . `` I was shocked , really shocked to be honest , but now that shock is turning to sadness , '' he told CNN . `` Of course , I 'm holding out some hope -- all we can do now is pray . '' His former classmate , Mohd Sofuan Ibrahim , also 33 and Malaysian , was scheduled to report for duty at Malaysia 's Ministry of International Trade and Industry branch office in Beijing -- even taking a Facebook photo before he boarded the plane . READ MORE : Still no sign of Flight 370 . `` We were at the same residential school and we shared the same dorm and stuck together in the dining hall , '' he said . `` He was a good , kind-hearted friend , very helpful , cheerful and definitely no wallflower . He was a very good speaker and teachers remembered him as a very good student . '' Nazri then discovered another former classmate , 33-year-old Ch'ng Mei Ling , was also on board Flight 370 . He said that Mei Ling , a Malaysian national who worked as a process engineer at Flexsys America LP , a manufacturer and supplier of chemicals for the rubber industry based in Ohio , would always be remembered as a `` very cheerful girl . '' `` She was very adaptable -- we had a lot of course work that we had to do together and she was very easy to work with , '' he said . `` She was also very funny . As a Chinese person she used to like playing with the Malay language ; her laugh was very infectious . '' Desperate for information . In Mumbai , 23-year-old technology graduate Archit Joshi was also desperately seeking information about his classmate Swawand Kolekar who was listed aboard Flight 370 . He said Kolekar 's family were in Beijing and also desperate for information on their son . `` Swawand was very reserved but very , very intelligent , '' Joshi told CNN . `` He was a bit of a techno-freak and he made a lot of circuits and projects at engineering college . `` He did n't have many friends , he was a bit of a loner , but he had all the attributes a good friend should have . '' In China , meanwhile , home to most of the 239 people on board , relatives of passengers were increasingly frustrated Monday as the agonizing wait for news continued . More than 100 people signed a hand-written petition demanding `` the truth '' from the airline by Sunday evening . They also urged the Chinese government to help them deal with Malaysian authorities . Zhang Guizhi , the aunt of passenger Li Yan , told CNN that she had arrived in Beijing from her native Henan province in central China and remained uncertain about how the airline would help her obtain a passport to travel to wherever the plane is found . She started crying when she mentioned her 31-year-old niece had traveled to Malaysia with her husband and four friends on vacation . `` Still no information and still waiting -- I 'm not happy with the airline 's arrangements so far , '' she said . A man who identified himself as the brother-in-law of passenger Ding Lijun said he had just arrived from Tianjin , approximately an hour south-east of Beijing . He teared up when he said Ding had been working in Malaysia as a construction worker for a year and was making his first trip home . Opinion : When passenger jets mysteriously disappear . Flights to Malaysia . In Kuala Lumpur , Ahmad Jauhari Yahya , CEO of Malaysia Airlines , said the carrier was making arrangements to fly next of kin to the country 's capital as the search for Flight 370 continues . `` We 'll be accommodating them in hotels around Kuala Lumpur , '' he said . `` We have made an offer for two next of kin to be flown immediately . '' Increasingly frustrated relatives in China , however , continued to demand more information . Some blamed the Chinese government , which they claimed had not come forward . `` I 'm not going home until I know what happened , '' said the father of one of the passengers named as Yan Ling . `` We 've lost loved ones and they need to answer our questions . When are you going to tell us and what are you going to do ? We still do n't know if they are alive or dead . '' Grief counselors were on hand in Beijing and in Kuala Lumpur to assist relatives . `` We have dispatched about 15 volunteers to Beijing , '' said deputy CEO of the Buddhist group Tzu Chi , Sio Kee Hong . `` In Malaysia , we have mobilized about 60 people on a daily basis , 24 hours a day . We have volunteers providing care to the families . `` Those with frustrations , we will be with them physically ( and ) provide whatever assistance is required ... psychological support is the most important thing at this juncture . '' READ MORE : What we know so far .
Reports of passengers come in from shocked families and friends . two man discovers One separate friends on the passenger manifest . Buddhist relatives in Kuala Lumpur increasingly frustrated as they wait for information . CNN offers to fly next of kin to Kuala Lumpur as the search continues .