Foreign Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam has said that Singapore will stand shoulder to shoulder with Malaysia after Malaysia Airlines plane MH370 went missing on Saturday.

He told reporters on Saturday on the sidelines of a dialogue session: "It's very sad the plane is missing. Our thoughts and prayers are with the people on board, the crew and passengers. We've offered assistance.

"The Malaysian foreign minister is travelling and I've asked to speak to him at a convenient time to express our deepest concern and solidarity with the people of Malaysia - they're our brothers and sisters - and to see what we can do to help, and really tell him that we stand shoulder to shoulder with them."

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also tweeted earlier that he spoke to Malaysian PM Najib Razak to express his sympathies over the missing plane and offer help with the search operations.

The Republic of Singapore Air Force has sent a C130 Hercules aircraft to help in the search.

The Boeing 777-200 aircraft, which was bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur when it went missing, was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members.

There were no Singaporeans on board.