Missing MH370: Japan and India join search

PETALING JAYA: Japan and India have now joined a growing group of countries looking for missing flight MH370.

According to a Times of India report, Indian Navy ships on routine patrol in the Malacca Straits would assist in search and rescue operations there.

"As per the laws of the sea, it is only natural that our vessels will participate in the operations," an official was quoted as saying in the report.

It was added that the Indian Navy's satellite Rukmini or GSAT-7 was also activated to pick up clues that would lead investigators to the missing aircraft.

In a statement on its website, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan said Malaysia asked for help on March 11, and that it would send a Japan Disaster Relief Team to assist in rescue operations.

It added that an advance team of eight officials from Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Coast Guard and International Cooperation Agency, left for Kuala Lumpur shortly after.

Though Japan had not decided on the relief team's scope of work and dispatch period, it expected that "air assets" from the Japan Self-Defence Forces and Japan Coast Guard would be deployed to help look for MH370.

The military forces of Malaysia, Australia, China, Indonesia, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, United States and Vietnam are already searching sea areas off the east and west coasts of Peninsular Malaysia.

There has been no sign of the plane or its passengers since authorities lost contact with it early Saturday morning.