Several of Malaysia’s commercial radio stations cancelled normal broadcasting on Tuesday following confirmation by Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak that flight MH370 had plunged into the Southern Indian Ocean,

Astro Radio stations dropped on air contests and toned down music as a mark of respect.

According to The Star Online, all phone lines on RED FM, SuriaFM, 988 and Capital FM were opened to take messages from listeners.

As a mark of respect, SRG stations also observed 30 seconds of silence at 8am in remembrance of MH370.

“Our prayers and thoughts are with the families and loved ones of everyone on board,” said a statement from the group of stations.

Flight MH370, which had been missing for the last 17 days, had mysteriously disappeared from Malaysian radars less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board.

After an intensive search operation involving many countries, the Malaysian Government has concluded that the flight crashed in the Indian Ocean.