A delegation of 24 Chinese painters were among the 227 passengers on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

According to China’s news portal ifeng.com, the artists made a trip to Malaysia to attend an exhibition called “Chinese Dream: Red and Green Painting.

The artists are from various provinces including Beijing, Shanghai, Shandong, Jiangsu, Sichuan and Xinjiang. A Beijing news reporter found that their names appeared on the passengers list of the missing flight.

The flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control, at 2.40am earlier today.

It was carrying a total of 239 passengers (including 2 infants), 12 crew members.

In a statement issued by Malaysia Airlines, the Boeing 777 aircraft departed Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am and was expected to land in Beijing at 6.30am the same day.