NEW DELHI, March 8 -- Five Indians were on board a Malaysian Airlines plane that went missing Saturday morning over the South China Sea, local TV channels reported, quoting Malaysian Transport Ministry.

The ill-fated plane, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, went missing over the South China Sea on its way to Beijing from Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Philippines have started a joint operation to search for and rescue the Boeing 777- 200 plane, which was due to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m., the reports said.

Malaysia Airlines earlier announced there were 12 Indonesians on the passenger list. But it later corrected the number of Indonesians to seven.