China has sent nine ships to waters south-east of the Bay of Bengal and west of Indonesia.

 

Teams from 26 countries are trying to find flight MH370, which went missing on 8 March with 239 people on board.

 

The entire search area is now roughly the size of Australia.

 

Malaysia says the plane, which was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, was intentionally² diverted and could have flown on either a northern or southern arc from its last known position in the Malacca Straits.

 

Investigators³ are looking into the possibility that the aircraft's crew - or other individuals on the plane - were involved in its disappearance⁴.

 

The Chinese vessels⁵ set off from Singapore early on Wednesday, to search an area of around 300,000 sq km, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

 

The ships would focus on waters near Sumatra, away from regions being searched by other countries, it added.

 

 

On Tuesday, China began searching its territory along the northern arc for the aircraft, following a request from the Malaysian authorities.

 

However, Foreign Minister spokesman Hong Lei said on Wednesday that China had not yet found any sign that the plane entered its territory, Reuters reported.

 

Australia is leading efforts along the southern arc in the Indian Ocean. 

 

However, the Australian Maritime⁶ Safety Authority (Amsa) said on Wednesday that neither military aircraft deployed on the search, nor merchant ships transiting⁷ through the area, had seen anything in connection to the aircraft.

 

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"It is a challenging search operation and Amsa continues to hold grave fears for the passengers and crew on board the missing flight," Amsa said. 

 

Meanwhile, Thailand's air force said on Tuesday a re-examination of its radar⁸ data found what may have been the plane travelling west towards the Malacca Straits at 01:28 Malaysia time, shortly after it lost contact with air traffic controllers.

 

This would be consistent with Malaysia's military radar, which spotted⁹ the plane over the Malacca Straits - the opposite direction from its planned flight path - early on 8 March.

 

Thai air force spokesman Montol Suchookorn said that the plane did not enter Thai air space and he could not confirm whether it was flight MH370.

 

Thai radar later spotted the plane heading north and disappearing over the Andaman Sea, AFP reported, citing the spokesman.

 

The Thai military had previously¹⁰ said it had not detected any sign of the aircraft.

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