Kolkata: India has begun its assistance to Malaysia in the search and rescue of missing airline Boeing-777. The Indian Air Force (IAF) on Wednesday said it has kept its aircraft on standby for taking part in the search operations for locating the missing Malaysian plane. The search area for the IAF is likely to be the Malacca Straits near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
On Tuesday, Indian Navy ships patrolled the straits of Malacca and Satellite Rukmini or GSAT-7 was also activated to try and pick up any signals that may lead investigators to the missing plane.Malaysia sought India’s assistance to trace its missing aircraft with 239 people on board, in the Andaman Sea. India has military command at Andaman and Nicobar islands with Navy and air force carrying out regular patrols in the area.
The Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines vanished over the South China Sea early Saturday sparking a massive search across Southeast Asia.Andaman Sea is hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the northwest of the original search radius, which has brought in fresh criticism of Malaysia’s response to the disaster.
Authorities expanded the search after earlier citing radar data they said indicates a “possibility” the plane may have changed course from its intended flight path over the South China Sea. Officials have yet to provide any further clarification on the radar data they referred to.
(With AFP inputs)