As the global search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 with 239 people on board continued on the seventh day, Kuala lumpur asked India on Friday to expand its search operations into Bay of Bengal. This is in addition to the Navy scouring South Andaman Sea for the missing aircraft with the help of six warships and as many aircraft. The Defence Ministry has also ordered the Navy and Coast Guard to carry out the mission named Operation Searchlight round the clock.
After the Navy and Coast Guard despatched six ships to Andaman Sea to search for the plane in an area of 130 by 130 square nautical miles on Thursday, Malaysia requested India on Friday to widen the arc to cover Bay of Bengal. The designated expanse to be covered by the Indian Navy, Coast Guard and the IAF is approximately 9,000 sq km (15 km by 600 km). This area is about 900 km west of Port Blair.
Search in this area would be undertaken by the resources of Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam, officials said here on Friday, adding, the commander will decide about the number of ships and aircraft to be deployed for it.
Meanwhile, the entire squadron of Dornier aircraft (one squadron has 12 to 15 planes) were making non-stop sorties over Andaman Sea since Thursday morning. This aircraft has an endurance of five hours, they said. The aircraft are flying over the zone earmarked by Royal Malaysian Navy at slow speed in an effort to visually spot any debris of the missing plane.
Explaining the magnitude of the operation, officials said when one Dornier returns to its base in Port Blair, another takes off on the mission and this cycle is going on non-stop. Since it is difficult to locate any debris at night, most of the sorties are carried out in daylight, they said. One naval P8-I long range maritime reconnaissance plane and one C-130J transport aircraft of the IAF are also on standby and may join operations on Saturday.
Presently, two ships of Indian Navy, INS Saryu and INS Kumbhir, are combing the designated areas in South Andaman Sea. INS Kesari replaced INS Kumbhir at around 1500h on Friday as it is also carrying an integral helicopter.