Missing Malaysian jet: Search reaches Chennai coast in Bay of Bengal

NEW DELHI: The hunt for the Malaysia Airlines aircraft, which mysteriously disappeared seven days ago, has just come closer to the Indian mainland. Acting on a fresh request by Malaysia, India has expanded the search for the missing Boeing 777-2000 from the ongoing operations in south Andaman Sea to the Bay of Bengal along the Chennai coast.

The "new search area" of 9,000 square km, the western boundary of which is around 260 nautical miles from Chennai, means India will now also deploy additional warships and aircraft from the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) at Visakhapatnam.

"We got the new request from the Malaysian authorities on Friday. With the aircraft (which was carrying 239 people) yet to be located, the search area is being expanded in concentric circles," said a defence ministry official.

The Navy, which is the "lead service" for the entire mission, will be sending two Dornier-228 maritime surveillance aircraft, one each from Chennai and Vizag, for an aerial search of the new search area on Saturday morning.

"The Dorniers have an endurance of over five hours with a maximum range of 1,320 nautical miles (2,445 km). They will scan the designated area with their radars and sensors, which includes ISAR (inverse synthetic aperture radar) capabilities for generating two-dimensional high resolution images,'' he said.

India has already deployed six warships (INS Kumbhir, INS Kesari, INS Sarayu, ICGS Bhikaji-Cama, ICGS Kanaklata-Barua and ICGS Sagar) and five aircraft (two Dorniers, a P-8I long-range reconnaissance plane, C-130J Super Hercules and Mi-17 V-5 helicopter) in the 35,000 sq km search area earlier identified by the Royal Malaysian Navy in south Andaman Sea.

"Though it's almost like searching for a needle in a haystack, the search is in full swing for any clue like debris, oil slick or the black-box. The joint effort is being coordinated from the Navy's Maritime Operations Centre at New Delhi, while A&N command chief Air Marshal PK Roy is the overall force commander," said another officer.

Though the surveillance radar network in the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is nowhere near as strong as the Indian mainland, officers said the Malaysian jetliner probably would have been "picked up" if it had flown close to the 572-island cluster. "Surveillance around the islands is done 24x7, with radars at Port Blair, Campbell Bay and Car Nicobar, among other places," said an officer.

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