20 Freescale Semiconductor employees missing in Malaysia Airlines Flight

U.S. chipmaker Freescale Semiconductor suffered a major loss over the weekend when 20 employees who were on a Malaysia Airlines flight disappeared with the plane Saturday.

The 20 Freescale employees were engineers and among 239 people on flight MH370 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing that went missing with the plane. Twelve of the employees were from Malaysia and eight were from China.

“At present, we are solely focused on our employees and their families,” said Gregg Lowe, president and CEO of Freescale. “Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by this tragic event.”

Longtime Freescale competitor Texas Instruments expressed its condolences on Twitter for the families of Freescale employees whose lives were lost in the tragic incident.

Freescale has assembled counselors and other professionals through its Employee Assistance Program, with around-the-clock support for those impacted by this tragedy.