Beijing will provide legal aid for relatives of passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, said government authorities on Monday.

Beijing has paid for psychological counselling, emergency rescue services, as well as a "green channel" for passport applications, said Liu Zhi, deputy secretary general of Beijing municipal government at a press conference.

The government has also ensured their accommodation and other services, he said.

As of 5 p.m. Monday, five reception sites have received a total of 357 relatives of passengers onboard the missing flight.

Malaysia Airlines on Sunday in Beijing said that it would help relatives of passengers on board its missing flight to fly from Beijing to Kuala Lumpur.

As of 7 p.m. Monday, the Civil Aviation Administration of China(CAAC) has not yet received any application from Malaysia Airlines for the chartered airplane for passengers' relatives, according to the CAAC.

As soon as they receive an application, the CAAC will offer convenience, said the CAAC.

Search and rescue vessels from China will reach there after rescue vessel "South China Sea Rescue 115" arriving at the target sea area where the missing flight was thought lost contact from the radar, said Zhuo Li, deputy director with the China Marine Search and Rescue Center(CMSRC) of the Ministry of Transport.

As of 10 p.m. Tuesday, the rescue forces from China will increase to a total of six vessels and three helicopters on the target area, he added.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft left Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 0:41 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday and was expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m.

Contact with the flight was lost along with its radar signal when it was flying over the Ho Chi Minh air traffic control area in Vietnam.

The flight was carrying 12 crew members and 227 passengers, including more than 150 Chinese.

Read more in Special Coverage: