Recent PhD graduate Yuchen Li is among the passengers of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

The 27 year-old is listed as passenger 77 on the flight’s passenger list, which documents the names, ages and nationalities of the 227 onboard the aircraft.

Li began his PhD at Cambridge in October 2009 in the Department of Engineering, supported by a CSC Cambridge International Scholarship. He completed his studies at Cambridge last year.

Before pursuing a PhD, the Chinese national studied for a Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Li was returning to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur after attending a graduate training course organised by Schlumberger, the olifield services company, which he bagn to work for in January following his PhD graduation.

Friends and fellow students took to Facebook and Twitter to announce Li’s presence on the flight and to express their sadness.

Xinxing Li, a friend of Yuchen Li, tweeted: “Sadly know that a ‪@Cambridgeuniver ‪@CHU_BC alumni, a good friend, a talent, Yuchen Li was in MH370. Bless all passengers. ‪#PrayForMH370”.

A spokesperson for the Department of Engineering to which Li was affiliated said: "At this tragic and difficult time, our thoughts are with Yuchen’s family and friends, and especially with his wife Mingfei Ma."

Flight MH370 left Kuala Lumpur International Airport, bound for Beijing, at 16:41 GMT on Friday. But radio contact was lost at 17:30 GMT, after which time the whereabouts of the plane is unknown. 

Yesterday evening the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam reported that debris had been sited in the sea off South Vietnam, but this morning it was found that this was not from the missing aircraft. Speaking at a press conference a senior Malaysian aviation official has called the plane’s disappearance an “unprecedented aviation mystery”.