New Delhi:
Two Indian ships from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were today deployed to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared from radar screens last Saturday, nearly an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur.
(Missing Malaysia Airlines plane's pilots under scrutiny after mystery)The Defence Ministry has also ordered that more aircraft and helicopters will be deployed for the search operation that involves a dozen countries. India's latest long-range maritime reconnaissance planes, Boeing P 8i, will also join the search.
India is likely to begin looking for the aircraft in the area east of Campbell Bay. Air Marshal PK Roy, Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman Nicobar Command will coordinate the operations.
On Wednesday, a Dornier aircraft belonging to India's coastguard set off to search the eastern side of the Andaman Islands, but found nothing.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, with 239 people on board, vanished from air traffic control screens midway between Malaysia's east coast and Vietnam. Its fate remains a mystery and no wreckage has been identified.
The search involves a dozen countries and has been widened to the Andaman Sea, to the west of the Malaysian peninsula. US investigators suspect that the aircraft flew for some four hours after its last confirmed location, the Wall Street Journal reported. But Malaysia's Transport Minister has said the reports are not true.
(Malaysia denies plane may have flown for hours after it went missing)