Bangladesh joins search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight

Dhaka: Bangladesh today joined international search operations to trace the missing Malaysian plane by deploying frigates and aircraft in its exclusive economic zone in the Bay of Bengal.

In line with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s directive, two patrol aircraft and two navy frigates — BNS Omar Faruque and BNS Bangabandhu — have joined the search, primarily to look for the aircraft in Bangladesh’s exclusive economic zone, a defence ministry spokesman told PTI.

Bangladesh decided to join the search for the missing Flight MH370 with 14 other countries in view of emerging possibilities that the plane could be tracked down in the Bay of Bengal, he said.

Replying to a question, the official said no time limit was issued for the duration of the campaign.

The decision came amid reports suggesting that faint electronic signals sent to satellites from the missing aircraft show it might have been flown thousands of miles off course before running out of fuel over the Indian Ocean.

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200 mysteriously disappeared from radar screens an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on 7 March.

The jetliner was carrying 227 passengers, including five Indians and one Indian-origin Canadian, and 12 crew members. There has been no trace of the plane nor any sign of wreckage despite a search by the navies and military aircraft of 14 countries, involving 43 ships and 58 aircraft.

PTI