Australia widens MH370 search area as hunt ramps up
Play
PERTH - Australian rescue officials broadened the search area for missing Malaysian flight MH370 Saturday and boosted the number of spotter planes in the Indian Ocean, with weather conditions favourable.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is coordinating the hunt in theast southern search corridor for the jet that vanished two weeks ago, focusing for a third day on an area of wild and remote sea 2,500 kilometres (1,500 miles) southwest of Perth.
On Friday five planes criss-crossed 23,000-square kilometres (8,800-square miles) without any sightings of wreckage, and the search area has now been widened.
"AMSA has tasked three RAAF P3 Orion aircraft, a New Zealand P3 RAAF Orion aircraft and two ultra long-range commercial jets to search a 36,000-square kilometer area about 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth today," it said.
AFP
