HANOI, March 15 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam has decided to end the search mission for a missing Malaysian jet, a senior military officer said at Vietnam's National Committee for Search and Rescue here on Saturday.
Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of the General Staff of Vietnam People's Army, told reporters that the decision was made after Vietnam had received information from Vietnamese Ambassador to Malaysia Nguyen Hong Thao Saturday afternoon that Malaysia has decided to end search in the
South China Sea.
Do Ba Ty, chief of the General Staff of Vietnam People's Army and deputy defense minister, announced the decision at a meeting held at the headquarters of the Defense Ministry upon consideration of the information.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER with 239 people on board, disappeared suddenly early last Saturday en route to Beijing.
In hunt for the vanished plane, Vietnam allowed vehicles from China, Singapore, the
United States, among others, to conduct search in its waters, Tuan said. "So far, Vietnam has not received any official request from Malaysia to send Vietnamese vehicles to search for the airplane in other areas, however, Vietnamese defense minister and chief of the general staff of Vietnam People's Army have consented that the country is ready to join the mission once receiving the request," Tuan told Xinhua.
During the search operation, Vietnam's 11 aircraft have flown 55 sorties, while its seven vessels have combed an area of over 100,000 square meters to search for the plane, Tuan said.
This is the largest search and rescue operation with the most modern vehicles that Vietnam has launched so far, Tuan said.
India suspends search for missing Malaysian jet |
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NEW DELHI, March 16 (Xinhua) -- India Sunday put on hold the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 at the request of Kuala Lumpur, said local TV Times Now.
The search is suspended because Malaysia is re-assessing the situation about the missing plane and trying to prioritize the areas for renewed searching, the TV channel quoted defense ministry sources as saying.
Indian navy and air force have been searching the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal for three days but so far, no sighting or detection has been reported, according to military sources here.
The search could resume in 10 to 12 hours' time, said the report.
Thai navy suspends search for missing jet |
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BANGKOK, March 15 (Xinhua) -- The Thai navy on Saturday suspended its search over the Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea for the missing Malaysian jet, navy spokesman Karn Dee-ubon said.
The decision came after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak's latest update on Saturday afternoon regarding the missing Boeing 777 plane flight MH370 with 239 passengers and crew aboard.
According to Najib, the authorities have uncovered new data on the possible flight path of MH370 that point to two new corridors, including a northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand as well as a southern one stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
The navy's search operation kicked off Monday, involving two patrol planes and a patrol vessel attached with a helicopter, but has found no trace of the flight as yet, according to Karn.
But four patrol vessels are still on stand-by, and they are ready to carry on with the search mission once the Malaysian government makes new requests for assistance, Karn said.
In addition, the Thai air force reportedly said Saturday that its radar system failed to detect the flight after the new information suggested that it could have flown over northern Thailand.
"Our most updated information in the radar system was in Hat Yai where the air force detected MH370 flying out of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. That was the first and last time we detected MH370," air force spokesman AM Monthon Sutchukorn was quoted by Bangkok Post as saying.
If a plane enters Thai airspace with no prior notification and authorization, the air force will be alerted by air traffic controllers of Aeronautical Radio of Thailand, Monthon said.
The air force also has its own radar system to detect planes that enter Thailand with no permission requested, he added.