Malaysia Airlines passenger was grandson of Indian politician killed in 1973 plane crash

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Muktesh Mukherjee is among the 239 missing after plane disappeared
His grandfather Mohan Kumaramangalam died in crash near New Delhi
Family is 'in fear of a second disaster in the air' after flight went dark

PUBLISHED: 18:29 EST, 10 March 2014 | UPDATED: 19:01 EST, 10 March 2014

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The son of an Indian politician killed in an air crash in 1973 is one of the 227 passengers feared dead after the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight.

The family of Canadian-Indian Muktesh Mukherjee, 42, fear he has shared the same fate as his grandfather Mohan Kumaramangalam, Indira Gandhi’s steel and mines minister who died on Indian Airlines flight 440 which crashed close to New Delhi four decades ago, killing 48 of the 65 passengers on board.

Mr Mukherjee, the vice-president of operations in China for the Pennsylvania-based XCoal Energy and Resources, was one of five Indians on the flight.

Muktesh Mukherjee, 42, and his wife Xiaomao Bai, 37, were on the missing Malaysia Airlines

His 37 year old Chinese wife Xiaomao Bai was also on the flight.

'We’re living in fear of a second disaster in the air in our family,' a member of his family told India's The Telegraph.

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Mr Mukherjee's mother Uma, the daughter of Mohan Kumaramangalam’s left her home in Dubai for Beijing yesterday after hearing about the Malaysia Airlines flight.

'We are trying to gather information and get the family together. It’s a very sad time for us,” said Mr Mukherjee's cousin Mangaljit Mukherjee, a Supreme Court lawyer.

Mr Mukherjee, the vice-president of operations in China for the Pennsylvania-based XCoal Energy and Resources, was one of five Indians on the flight

Indian Foreign Office spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said: 'Our high commissioner in Kuala Lumpur has personally spoken to the families of all the five Indian nationals on the flight.'

Canadian embassy officials confirmed that Ottawa was in touch with the families.

Authorities have still found no trace of the missing plane despite searches by ships from six navies and dozens of military aircraft.

The massive search is mainly in a 50-nautical mile radius from where the last contact with the plane was made, midway between Malaysia's east coast and the southern tip of Vietnam.

Chinese students stand by candles while praying for the passengers aboard the missing Boeing 777 at a school in Zhuji city

Members of the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) scan the seas about 140 nautical miles north-east of Kota Baru, Malaysia, for any signs of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane

Oil slicks can be seen from the Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) plane scanning the seas about 140 nautical miles north-east of Kota Baru, Malaysia

A U.S. led search is also taking place hundreds of miles away on the other side of the Malaysian peninsula.

Malaysia's civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman described the disappearance of the plane as an 'unprecedented aviation mystery'.

He said a hijacking could not be ruled out as investigators explore all theories for the loss of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

'Unfortunately we have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft,' he told a news conference.

'As far as we are concerned, we have to find the aircraft, we have to find a piece of the aircraft if possible.'

Flight MH370 disappeared from radar screens in the early hours of Saturday, about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur. Searches for the plane are now taking place throughout the area