VietNamNet Bridge - During 8 days, from March 8 through 15, Vietnam used a record force to search for the missing jet of Malaysia in the East Sea, with 11 aircraft and 7 ships of all kinds.

On the morning of March 8, the Office of the National Committee for Search and Rescue of the Ministry of Defense received the information that a Boeing 777-200 (number MH 370) of Malaysia carrying 239 people to Beijing (China), lost signal at 0h21 on March 8 when it was about 120 nautical miles from the Ca Mau Cape of Vietnam.

Upon receiving the information, the committee instructed the Coordinating Center for Maritime Search and Rescue of Vietnam to inform all vessels operating in the area and asked the Ministry of Defense to mobilize ships of the Navy and the Coast Guard to search for the missing plane. The committee also collaborated with maritime centers of China, Malaysia and Singapore.

As the first country to search for the missing jet, Vietnam used 11 aircraft and 10 ships of all kinds, such as seaplane DHC6, search and rescue aircraft Mi171, transport aircraft AN26, maritime reconnaissance aircraft CASA, naval ships, vessels of the Coast Guard, vessels SAR 413, SAR 272 and SAR 413. In particular, the search had the participation of the HQ888 marine research vessel (named after Prof. Tran Dai Nghia) – the most modern probe ship in Southeast Asia.

At 15h30 on March 8, the AN26 aircraft No. 286 detected two tracks like oil slicks with a length of 15-20 km, about 140 km south of Tho Chu island. Immediately, the ships HQ 954 and HQ 637 left Phu Quoc Island to the site. But then the oil slicks were not related to the missing plane.

In the first day, Vietnam used 4 aircraft including two AN26 which performed two flights,  two flights by two Mi171 aircraft and 7 ships of all kinds including: SAR 413, SAR 272, 2001 CSB, CSB 2003, HQ 954, HQ 637, 774 KN.

On March 9, the AN 26 aircraft No. 286 discovered an oil slick with the size of 10 x 80 km, about 80 km from the oil slicks detected on the first day. At 11am, seaplane DHC6 joined the search; a team of divers were ready to work.

Then seaplane DHC6 found a white, rectangle-shaped object with a circular hole in the middle, suspected as the aircraft exit door, about 30 nautical miles from Tho Chu Island (Kien Giang province). Vessel 774 KN was sent to the site to verify the object but the ship did not find it.

17pm the same day, at the headquarters of the Ministry of Defense, a meeting of the National Committee for Search and Rescue and the Committee of Civil Aviation Security, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai. Mr. Hai instructed to carry out the search 24/24, to extend the scope and to allow foreign forces to perform the search in the territory of Vietnam.

On the second day, six aircraft (three AN26, two Mi171 and one DHC6) made eight flights and nine ships of all kinds continued the search.

8am on March 10, Lieutenant General Do Ba Ty, Chief of General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army was present at the Operation Center of the National Committee for Search and Rescue to guide the search forces.

The High Commands of the Military Regions 5, 7, 9, the Border Guard, the Navy and the Coast Guard were mobilized to detect traces related to the missing aircraft both at sea and on land.

At 10h20am on March 10, aircraft DHC6 detected a square-shaped object in orange color, which was suspected as a buoy, about 96 nautical miles from Tho Chu Island. At 1.30pm, Malaysia reported that a Singaporean aircraft discovered a lifebuoy-liked object about 71 nautical miles from Tho Chu Island. However, these objects were defined not related to the missing plane.

2.10pm the same day, a plane informed the Hong Kong Air Control Center of the detection of a large number of metal debris in the sea, south of O Cap Cape in Vung Tau about 50 nautical miles. Aircraft and ships were sent to verify but they did not find these things.

On the 3rd day, Vietnam conducted 12 flights and used 7 vessels, besides 4 aircraft, 11 ships of Malaysia, Singapore and China.

On March 11, Vietnam mobilized two reconnaissance aircraft CASA-212 for the search. These are the most modern probe planes of the Coast Guard forces.

In addition to the two CASA planes, Vietnam used an additional of 7 different aircraft, 9 ships to expand the scope of the search. The foreign forces joined the search included 14 aircraft and 22 ships, with four aircraft and 9 ships of Malaysia, two aircraft and three ships of Singapore, four aircraft and six ships of China, four aircraft and three ships of the US and one ship of Thailand.

On March 12, the Vietnam Navy performed four flights while vessels searched along the L637 air route (Kuala Lumpur – Beijing) in combination with four aircraft and four ships of China, Malaysia, USA and Thailand.

On the 6th day of the search, there were still no traces of the missing plane. All objects found were not related to the plane. Vietnam expanded the search to the U Minh forest (Ca Mau) and sent ships and aircraft to region where a Chinese satellite took photos of strange objects approximately 140 nautical miles from Con Dao Island. Malaysia also sent three ships and 2 aircraft to the aforementioned areas to search.

A Chinese Tu154 aircraft, three ships and two aircraft of Malaysia were still in the search on Vietnam’s territory.

After several days searching on an area of over 80,000 km2 but still could not find any traces of the missing plane, on the morning of March 14, the Ministry of Defense asked the Navy, the Air Force, the Coast Guard, the Border Guard and the Military Zones 5, 7 and 9 to shift from active search to maintaining search.

On the 8th day, Vietnam used two AN26 aircraft and one CASA aircraft and seven vessels to search in the assigned area. The foreign forces in Vietnam's waters included two Chinese aircraft, two Singaporean aircraft and one American plane.

At 1pm the same day, when the search was taking place, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that it halted the search on the East Sea. An hour later, the Vietnam Ministry of Defense met and at 4.30pm, Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Vietnam People's Army stated to stop searching for the missing plane on Vietnam’s waters.

Malaysia announced to continue the search for two directions, from Malaysia through Thailand towards Kazakhstan, Central Asia and toward the coast of Indonesia. With this extensive search, Malaysia may have to ask for assistance of the foreign forces.

Vietnam will send ships and aircraft to help Malaysia if this country asks for Vietnam’s help, said Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan.

Tran Cham