India to send two aircraft to search for missing Malaysian plane

India will resume search for Malaysian jetliner MH370 by redeploying its P-8I long-range maritime surveillance and C-130J "Super Hercules" planes for surveys over southern Indian Ocean from Thursday, said local daily Times of India Wednesday.

Government officials on Wednesday said Malaysia had sent a fresh request to India to help in the new designated search area stretching 5,000 nautical miles southwards from Jakarta, said the newspaper.

"One P-8I is already on stand-by at the naval air station at Arakkonam in Tamil Nadu, while another C-130J is positioned at Port Blair," the report quoted an official as saying.

Both planes have long endurance and can scan the designated area with their radars, electro-optic and infra-red sensors, said the report. They are likely to begin operations from Thursday morning to cover the area spanning 5,000 nautical miles from Jakarta towards Antarctica, the report said.

Last week, India joined the ongoing search for the Malaysian air jet by deploying six warships and several planes to search the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.

The Indian search operations were suspended after Kuala Lumpur decided to rearrange priorities for hunting.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak called Indian PM Manmohan Singh last Sunday to request for technical help and radar data to find the possible paths taken by the missing plane.