- Some family members of passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 protest at a hotel
- The media were there to capture the women's shouts
- Security guards drag one screaming woman away through a crush of reporters
- Families in Beijing are growing weary, too
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CNN) -- A woman wailed as security guards dragged her out of the briefing room used to provide updates on missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
She is the mother of one of the passengers, and her protest is but one sign that patience is fraying among the relatives of the missing.
The families of the passengers have been mostly out of the spotlight as Malaysian authorities spearhead a mission to find the plane. But as day 12 rolled around with no answers, the frustration became evident.
Not knowing the fate of their loved ones weighs heavily on the family members, who are desperate for answers.
A distraught relative of a passenger on the missing Malaysia Airlines jet breaks down while talking to reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, on Wednesday, March 19. The Boeing 777-200ER disappeared during a March 8 flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Searchers from 26 countries are trying to pinpoint Flight 370's location somewhere along two vast arcs, one stretching deep into the Asian landmass, the other far out into the Indian Ocean. 
A relative of Chinese passengers aboard the missing plane waits for a news briefing by officials in Beijing on Tuesday, March 18. 
A relative of a Chinese passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 tells reporters in Beijing on March 18 about a hunger strike to protest authorities' handling of information about the missing jet. 
A member of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency joins in a search for the missing plane in the Andaman Sea area around the northern tip of Indonesia's Sumatra on Monday, March 17. 
Relatives of passengers aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 watch a news program about the missing plane as they await information at a hotel ballroom in Beijing on March 17. 
Malaysian Transportation Minister Hishamuddin Hussein, center, shows maps of the search area March 17 at a hotel in Sepang, Malaysia, next to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 
U.S. Navy crew members assist in search-and-rescue operations Sunday, March 16, in the Indian Ocean. 
Indonesian personnel watch over high seas during a search operation in the Andaman Sea on Saturday, March 15. 
A foam plane, which has personalized messages for the missing flight's passengers, is seen at a viewing gallery March 15 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 
A member of the Malaysian navy makes a call as his ship approaches a Chinese Coast Guard ship in the South China Sea on March 15. 
A Indonesian ship heads to the Andaman Sea during a search operation near the tip of Sumatra, Indonesia, on March 15. 
Elementary school students pray for the missing passengers during class in Medan, Indonesia, on March 15. 
Col. Vu Duc Long of the Vietnam air force fields reporters' questions at an air base in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, after a search operation on Friday, March 14. 
Members of the Chinese navy continue search operations on Thursday, March 13. The search area for Flight 370 has grown wider. After starting in the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, the plane's last confirmed location, efforts are expanding west into the Indian Ocean. 
A Vietnamese military official looks out an aircraft window during search operations March 13. 
Malaysian air force members look for debris on March 13 near Kuala Lumpur. 
A relative of a missing passenger watches TV at a Beijing hotel as she waits for the latest news March 13. 
A member of the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency scans the horizon in the Strait of Malacca on Wednesday, March 12. 
Relatives of missing passengers wait for the latest news at a hotel in Beijing on March 12. 
Journalists raise their hands to ask questions during a news conference in Sepang on March 12. 
Indonesian air force officers in Medan, Indonesia, examine a map of the Strait of Malacca on March 12. 
A member of the Vietnamese air force checks a map while searching for the missing plane on Tuesday, March 11. 
Iranians Pouri Nourmohammadi, second left, and Delavar Seyed Mohammad Reza, far right, were identified by Interpol as the two men who used stolen passports to board the flight. But there's no evidence to suggest either was connected to any terrorist organizations, according to Malaysian investigators. Malaysian police believe Nourmohammadi was trying to emigrate to Germany using the stolen Austrian passport. 
An Indonesian navy crew member scans an area of the South China Sea bordering Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand on Monday, March 10. 
Vietnam air force Col. Le Huu Hanh is reflected on the navigation control panel of a plane that is part of the search operation over the South China Sea on March 10. 
Relatives of the missing flight's passengers wait in a Beijing hotel room on March 10. 
A U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter lands aboard the USS Pinckney to change crews before returning to search for the missing plane Sunday, March 9, in the Gulf of Thailand. 
Members of the Fo Guang Shan rescue team offer a special prayer March 9 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 
A handout picture provided by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency shows personnel checking a radar screen during search-and-rescue operations March 9. 
Italian tourist Luigi Maraldi, who reported his passport stolen in August, shows his current passport during a news conference at a police station in Phuket island, Thailand, on March 9. Two passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight were reportedly traveling on stolen passports belonging to Maraldi and an Austrian citizen whose papers were stolen two years ago. 
Hugh Dunleavy, commercial director of Malaysia Airlines, speaks to journalists March 9 at a Beijing hotel where relatives and friends of the missing flight's passengers are staying. 
Vietnamese air force crew stand in front of a plane at Tan Son Nhat airport in Ho Chi Minh City on March 9 before heading out to the area between Vietnam and Malaysia where the airliner vanished. 
Buddhist monks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport offer a special prayer for the missing passengers on March 9. 
The Chinese navy warship Jinggangshan prepares to leave Zhanjiang Port early on March 9 to assist in search-and-rescue operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight. The Jinggangshan, an amphibious landing ship, is loaded with lifesaving equipment, underwater detection devices and supplies of oil, water and food. 
Members of a Chinese emergency response team board a rescue vessel at the port of Sanya in China's Hainan province on March 9. The vessel is carrying 12 divers and will rendezvous with another rescue vessel on its way to the area where contact was lost with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. 
The rescue vessel sets out from Sanya in the South China Sea. 
A family member of missing passengers is mobbed by journalists at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Saturday, March 8. 
A Vietnamese air force plane found traces of oil that authorities had suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported March 8. However, a sample from the slick showed it was bunker oil, typically used to power large cargo ships, Malaysia's state news agency, Bernama, reported on March 10. 
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8. 
Malaysia Airlines official Joshua Law Kok Hwa, center, speaks to reporters in Beijing on March 8. 
A relative of two missing passengers reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8. 
Wang Yue, director of marketing of Malaysia Airlines in China, reads a company statement during a news conference at the Metro Park Lido Hotel in Beijing on March 8. 
Chinese police at the Beijing airport stand beside the arrival board showing delayed Flight 370 in red on March 8. 
A woman asks a staff member at the Beijing airport for more information on the missing flight. 
A Malaysian man who says he has relatives on board the missing plane talks to journalists at the Beijing airport on March 8. 
Passengers walk past a Malaysia Airlines sign on March 8 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. 
Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya, front, speaks during a news conference on March 8 at a hotel in Sepang. "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, he said. The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
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The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
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The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
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Photos: The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Three women, relatives of the passengers, staged a protest at the Kuala Lumpur hotel where the world's press is staying. Their efforts were cut short by security guards who removed them through a crush of reporters, dragging one as she screamed.
"I don't care what your government does," one woman shouted, referring to the Malaysians. "I just want my son back."
The flashes from dozens of cameras lit up her face as she spoke.
The woman identified herself as the mother of Li Le, a 36-year-old Chinese national aboard the missing plane.
"My son," she said, weeping. "I just want my son back."
Another woman, wearing a blue shirt, white baseball cap, sunglasses and a face mask, raised her right arm as she demanded more information from the Malaysian government.
"We need media from the entire world (to) help us find our lost families and find the MH370 plane," the woman said. "We have no information at all. ... They only say 'keep searching' -- from South China Sea to Malacca Strait to Andaman Sea."
Why no phone calls from the plane?
She and the other families waiting in Kuala Lumpur said they aren't satisfied with "the Malaysian government's inaction."
"What we need is to know the truth, to know where the plane is," she shouted. "We have had enough. Malaysian government are liars."
Guards then escorted the women out, apparently against their will.
The screams of Li Le's mother were piercing as she was dragged through a sea of reporters.
The other two women were led out by guards. All three were taken to a room in the hotel, and Malaysian authorities blocked the door.
How do passenger jets change flight paths?
Relatives wait in Beijing
The agony of the wait was felt not just in Kuala Lumpur. Families in Beijing -- the scheduled destination for Flight 370 -- also gather daily for a briefing with officials.
Ye Lun, whose brother-in-law is on the missing plane, says every day is the same. He and his group leave the hotel in the morning for a daily briefing, and that's it. They go back to the hotel to watch the news on television.
The deepening mystery has taken its toll on the families.
The emotions of Ye's sister -- wife of one of the passengers -- have become very unstable, he said.
"Every morning, she feels that she's got hope when she comes to the briefing. Then they simply say those blurry things again," Ye said. "Then she loses hope again."
He continued: "It's like this every single day. She always hopes that a miracle will happen, but it doesn't. I don't know when this miracle will happen. How many days have we got left, I don't know."
Ye's brother-in-law is a veteran of the Malaysia Airlines' Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route, a silver-level frequent flier.
The airline's handling of the situation is so unpopular that the families in Beijing are talking about potential lawsuits. Ye asked for an envoy from the airline to confer with the families to explain the details of the situation.
"The longer the wait, the bigger the mental shadow we have," he said.
Experts answer your questions
Air France flight unity
In a show of solidarity, some families of the victims of Air France Flight 447, which also went missing before its wreckage was found, wrote an open letter to the families of Flight 370 passengers.
The letter expressed dismay about the vague and sometimes contradictory statements from the Malaysian government, and it suggested that families turn to their home governments to pressure the Malaysians for details.
The letter was written by a group of relatives of Flight 447 victims who lived in Germany.
The president of the group, Dr. Bernd Gans, said it is necessary for the families of Flight 370 to stick together and to pressure officials "to make sure they are getting answers."
Gans lost a daughter in the Air France tragedy, and he said coping with the incident becomes easier over time.
"Yes, in the first moment you are completely paralyzed, but life goes on, it's necessary," he said.
Sarah Bajc, the partner of American Philip Wood, said she is still holding on to hope.
Her initial thought was that the plane had been commandeered or hijacked. As time has elapsed, that theory has gained followers.
"All my friends were starting to think that perhaps I was just in denial, and I was even starting to doubt myself a little bit," Bajc told CNN's Anderson Cooper. "So when all of this new evidence started to come out, it gave me confidence that I wasn't so crazy after all."
She is no aviation expert, but she has intuition, and it tells her that the passengers, including Wood, are still alive.
Whoever is holding the passengers hostage in this scenario can achieve their goal without hurting anyone, she said. There is no evidence that this is the case, but it is her message to any possible captors.
"Miracles do happen," she said. "They happen every day."
CNN's Kyung Lah and Atika Shubert contributed to this report from Kuala Lumpur; Yuli Yang contributed from Beijing; and Justin Lear and Kevin Wang contributed from Atlanta. Mariano Castillo wrote the story in Atlanta.
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