Sydney, April 1 (IANS) A total of 10 planes and nine ships will assist in Tuesday’s search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC) announced.
The JACC was established Monday and is being led by retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston in Perth to effectively coordinate Australian government’s search and recovery operation, Xinhua reported.
It will also provide timely information to families of passengers and crew on board the missing aircraft and inform the public about the latest available information.
According to its latest release, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority has determined a search area of 120,000 square km, west of Perth.
Ten military planes – two Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orions, two Malaysian C-130s, a Chinese Ilyushin IL-76, a US Navy P8 Poseidon, a Japanese Gulfstream jet, a South Korean P3 Orion, a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3, a Japanese P3 Orion will assist in the search, with a civil jet providing communications relay.
Nine ships have been tasked to search in four separate areas. Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield departed HMAS Stirling Monday night, with a pinger locator. In addition, weather in the search area is expected to be poor, with areas of low visibility.