With the global search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing-777 with 239 people on board entering the eighth day on Saturday, India has further intensified its efforts. The Indian Navy has deployed additional naval and air assets to map out nearly 2,50,000 sq. km in Bay of Bengal and South Andaman Sea.
While two P8-I long range maritime reconnaissance planes and Dornier medium range surveillance planes were carrying out non-stop sorties over Bay of Bengal since Saturday morning, six warships along with Dorniers were scouring the Andaman Sea for the last three days. India joined the search on Thursday morning with its aircraft and warships dispatched to South Andaman Sea following a request by Malaysia as it feared that the plane may have gone missing or crashed in that region. The arc of search expanded on Friday with Royal Malaysian Navy asking India to look for the plane also in the Bay of Bengal region off Chennai.
Giving the latest update, officials said here all aerial sorties in Andaman and Bay of Bengal were undertaken in daylight as it was easier to visually scan the vast expanse of ocean as compared to night. The Defence Ministry had also ordered the Navy, Coast Guard and IAF to carry out search continuously. As regards efforts in Bay of Bengal, they said two P8-I planes took off from Arkonam in Tamil Nadu and Port Blair respectively on Saturday morning and were relentlessly searching for the plane in an area of more than 9,000 sq. km. Similarly, two Dorniers took off from Chennai and Visakhapatnam respectively for the operation in this region.
Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam is providing all the assets for search in Bay of Bengal and additional ships and aircraft are standby for augmenting the search. As regards Andaman, they said six ships (three each from the Navy and Coast Guard) were continuing their search as part of the international group in that region with total area of more than 34,000 sq. km. In addition one Coast Guard ship was ordered to undertake search in the Malacca Straits.
As the lead Service, the Navy is maintaining continuous liaison with the Operations Centres of the Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force so as to coordinate the ongoing multi-national efforts involving over 14 countries, 45 ships and 60 aircrafts.