Thailand continues search support for missing Malaysian flight

BANGKOK, March 13 (TNA) - The Royal Thai Navy has announced that it will continue helping search for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, Flight MH370, which has vanished since last Saturday morning. Navy Chief Admiral Narong Pipatanasai affirmed on Thursday that the Royal Thai Navy will continue working closely with Malaysia in the search for the missing passenger plane, stressing that it will abort its search mission only whenever asked by the Malaysian side. The Royal Thai Navy has sent HTMS Pattani patrol vessel, a helicopter and an aircraft to join the ongoing multinational search for the missing airplane in both the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand, after receiving a request from neighbouring Malaysia. The Thai navy chief admitted that the multinational search has so far yielded no substantial clues of the missing plane’s whereabouts and it remains unclear how the plane disappeared. The Thai navy chief said the Royal Thai Navy will, however, adjust its search strategy by deploying more helicopters and ships to cover wider areas. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, went missing last early Saturday, two hours after its departure from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, for China's capital, Beijing. Meanwhile, the Malaysia Airlines notified that it retires the flight code, MH370, to pay respect to the passengers and crew members on board the ill-fated MH370 Flight, effective from March 14, 2014. The new flight code to replace MH370 will be MH318 on the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route and MH319 on the Beijing-Kuala Lumpur route, but the Malaysian national airline stated there will be no changes to the frequency of the services. (TNA)