Indonesia to Send More Ships to Help Find Missing Airplane

Batam, Riau Island (Antara) - Indonesia will send one more ship from the National Search and Rescue Body (Basarnas) to help find the missing Malaysia Airline airplane, an official said. "The ship is ready. We are now taking care of other operational needs," the Chief of Basarnas' Riau island branch, Abdul Hamid, said here on Monday. The Malaysia Airline airplane has been missing since Saturday, March 8, morning, while on its journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Previously, the Indonesian Navy had sent five ships to help search for the missing MH370 plane. Two of the ships have started searching for the missing aircraft, particularly in the sea near the Penang island of Malaysia. Apart from sending its Navy ships, Indonesia has also sent an Air Force plane Casa Umar 621 to help in the search operations. Flight MH370 went missing while on its journey. It took off from Kuala Lumpur at around 00.41 a.m. and was supposed to arrive in Beijing at 6.30 a.m. However, the plane lost contact with the Subang air traffic control at around 2.40 a.m. The plane was carrying a total of 239 passengers from 15 different nations, namely from China (152 plus 1 infant), Malaysia (38), India (5), Indonesia (7), Australia (7), France (3), United States of America (3 plus 1 infant), New Zealand (2), Ukraine (2), Canada (2), Russia (1), Italy (1), Taiwan (1), Netherlands (1) and Austria (1). Recently the Interpol confirmed that two of the passengers, namely one from Italy and one from Austria, had entered the missing plane using stolen passports. Malaysian police is still investigating whether there is a relation between the illegal passengers and the missing plane. As of now, the search for the missing plane is continuing with Malaysia leading the process, assisted by the navy and air force personnel from Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, China, the United States and Australia. (*)