An aircraft of Vietnam participating in the search.

Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People’s Army, Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan said after several days searching at sea without any traces, the search will be expanded on land.

Tuan said the on-the-spot military forces would be mobilized to search along the flight route from Hang Khoai of Ca Mau province to HCM City and also in the Southwestern, Southeastern and South Central provinces.

Currently, Vietnam has not fixed the deadline for the search. In case they do not find the missing aircraft, Malaysia will release the final notice.

The cost of search and rescue comes from the budget of the National Committee for Search and Rescue of Vietnam.

Early, Major General Do Minh Tuan, Deputy Commander of the Vietnam Air Defense - Air Force, said in the morning of March 11, the Air Force would expand the scope of the search to the west of Con Dao Island.

Yesterday afternoon, two Casa 212 - the most modern patrol aircraft in Vietnam - joined the search, bringing the total number of the Vietnam Air Force’s aircraft to 12.

Rescuers from Regiment 917 of the Air Defense and Air Force were present at the Ca Mau Airport from 5am this morning for a meeting to discuss the search plans. It is expected that former defense minister General Pham Van Tra will be present on one of two MI helicopters.

It is said that today the helicopters will fly to the Ca Mau Shoals and the west of Con Dao Island. The force will be divided into two groups and the search will be expanded on 20,000 km2.

At 07.00am, two helicopters Mi-171 departed from Ca Mau airport heading towards the located area where the Malaysian Airlines plane was reported missing on March 8.

Two aircraft AN26 took off from HCM City’s Tan Son Nhat International Airport en route to the waters south of Kien Giang province’s Rach Gia city. Their search area stretches from 8-9 degrees North and 102-103 degrees East, about 150-300km southeast of Ca Mau airport.

At the headquarters of the command office established at Phu Quoc airport, Deputy Transport Minister Pham Quy Tieu chaired a meeting, discussing search options with relevant agencies and Kien Giang’s authorities.

He said navy ships reached the suspected debris, about 60km off Vung Tau coast, spotted by a Singaporean airliner on March 10, and found the object was not connected to the missing plane.

He proposed Kien Giang work out personnel and medical support plans just in case the wreckage of the missing plane and bodies of the passengers are found.

He also asked the province to enhance communications to ensure fishermen keep abreast of the case and contact the office if they discover any suspicious signs.

The Deputy Minister also asked the air force to conduct patrol sorties in the initially located area and deploy more aircraft to the expended search area.

Satellite VNREDSAT -1, Vietnam’s first remote sensing satellite, will be used to take pictures of the area where the Malaysian Airlines was reported missing.

VNREDSAT -1 is scheduled to traverse Kien Giang’s Tho Chu island at 11.00am on March 11 and it will transmit images to earth in the evening of the same day. 

On March 10, Vietnam mobilized many special aircraft and naval vessels to search for the missing jet, but nothing was found.

A Singaporean aircraft detected an object that was said to be plane debris. Upon receiving the information, Vietnam sent ships to the site to salvage the object but it is not related to the Malaysian aircraft.

At noon the same day, an aircraft of the Vietnam Marine Police detected a square-shaped object in orange color 177 km to the southwest of Tho Chu Island (Kien Giang province). It was thought to be a lifebuoy. Early afternoon, a Malaysian aircraft also detected an object in orange color about 140km southwest from Tho Chu Island.

At 3pm, a Vietnamese ship salvaged the object but it was identified as the moss cover of a cable roll.

Late afternoon, a Hong Kong commercial aircraft informed of debris near the coast of Vung Tau. Vietnamese vehicles in collaboration with fishing ships searched the area. However, Deputy Minister of Transport Pham Quy Tieu said in a press conference last night that the missing aircraft could not fly to that area.

Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of Vietnam People’s Army said Vietnam is trying at its best to search for the missing jet.

Vietnam has licensed aircraft and ships of four countries to enter the waters of Vietnam to search for the missing plane, including: Malaysia, Singapore, the U.S. and China, with a total of 34 aircraft, 40 ships of all kinds, regardless of fishing vessels.

Last night seven Vietnamese ships kept searching for the missing plane. 

Source: VNN/VNE/VOV