The international search for a missing Malaysian airliner has been expanded into the Andaman Sea, hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the northwest of the original search radius said a Malaysian official while Vietnam said it would suspend its air search.
KUALA LUMPUR: The international search for a missing Malaysian airliner has been expanded into the Andaman Sea, hundreds of kilometres (miles) to the northwest of the original search radius, an official said Wednesday.
Flight MH370 went missing early Saturday with 239 people on board en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, sparking a massive search across Southeast Asia.
Malaysian civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said ships and planes were now also searching in the southern part of the Andaman Sea.
"Yes, above Sumatra is the Andaman Sea," he told AFP, when asked to confirm whether assets were being deployed in the Andaman Sea. "It's a very big area to cover... We are not going to leave any chance. We have to look at every possibility."
Sumatra is a large Indonesian island south of the Andaman Sea. The body of water is off Thailand's west coast.
Authorities have 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.
Authorities have been searching since Saturday in the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.
The effort has found no trace of the plane, sparking one of the greatest aviation mysteries in memory.
Meanwhile, Vietnam said Wednesday it had suspended its air search for missing flight MH370 and scaled back a sea search as it waited for Malaysia to clarify the potential new direction of the multi-national hunt.
"We've decided to temporarily suspend some search and rescue activities, pending information from Malaysia," deputy minister of transport Pham Quy Tieu said, adding that boats were still searching the area, but on a smaller scale.
A Malaysian newspaper report said radar had last detected the plane over the Strait of Malacca off western Malaysia, but this was denied by Malaysia's air force chief on Wednesday.
"We've asked Malaysian authorities twice, but so far they have not replied to us," Tieu said, when asked about the report.
"We informed Malaysia on the day we lost contact with the flight that we noticed the flight turned back west but Malaysia did not respond," he added.
The missing Malaysian Airlines plane was mostly filled with Chinese passengers.
China has sent two air force planes to help in the search, and its civil aviation chief Li Jiaxiang, said on Wednesday that the efforts will be expanded to include land areas.
