Indian search finds no trace of Malaysian plane

In this Nov. 14, 2005 file photo, clouds hang over the North Sentinel Island, in India’s southeastern Andaman and Nicobar Islands. India used heat sensors on flights over hundreds of uninhabited Andaman Sea islands Friday, March 14, 2014, and will expand its search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet farther west into the Bay of Bengal, officials said. The Indian-controlled archipelago that stretches south of Myanmar contains 572 islands covering an area of 720-by-52 kilometers. Only 37 are inhabited, with the rest covered in dense forests. AP

NEW DELHI —Indian navy ships supported by surveillance planes and helicopters scoured Andaman Sea islands for a third day on Saturday without any success in finding evidence of a missing Malaysia Airlines jet, an official said.

V.S.R. Murthy, a top Indian coast guard official, said the search has been expanded farther west into the Bay of Bengal.

Nearly a dozen ships, patrol vessels, surveillance aircraft and helicopters have been deployed but “we have got nothing so far,” Murthy said.

Bangladesh also joined the search effort in the Bay of Bengal with two patrol aircraft and two frigates, said Mahbubul Haque Shakil, an aide of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.

Seeing no headway, Malaysian authorities suggested Friday a new search area of 9,000 square kilometers (3,474 square miles) to India along the Chennai coast in the Bay of Bengal, India’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.

On Friday, India used heat sensors on flights over hundreds of uninhabited Andaman Sea islands that stretch south of Myanmar, covering an area 720 kilometers (447 miles) long and 52 kilometers (32 miles) wide. Only 37 of 572 are inhabited, with the rest covered in dense forests.

The island chain has four airstrips, but only the main airport in Port Blair can handle a large commercial jet.