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Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday assured his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak Sunday of all the help India can provide with Malaysia in tracing the missing air jet, said local media.
Razak called Singh and requested technical assistance in tracing the possible route taken by the Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 vanished on March 8, said Indo-Asian News Service.
"The Malaysian prime minister requested for technical assistance from Indian authorities in corroborating possible paths that the missing Malaysian airliner might have taken after losing contact with ATC (air traffic controller) radars," the report quoted an official from the Prime Minister's Office as saying.
"PM (Manmohan Singh), while sharing his concern and anxiety about the fate of the aircraft and the well being of the passengers, assured all possible assistance from concerned Indian authorities," the official was quoted as saying.
India helped Malaysia searching for the plane in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal earlier this week. The search was suspended Sunday at the request of Kuala Lumpur.
The Indian Defense Ministry said the search will remain suspended until notice by Malaysia on which areas to search.
"Malaysian authorities have now indicated that, based on investigation, the search operations have entered a new phase and a strategy for further searches is being formulated," said a statement of the Defense Ministry. "Accordingly, search operations have been suspended and all Indian assets earmarked for SAR ( search and rescue) operations have been placed on standby."
Malaysian Defense and Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a press conference Sunday in Kuala Lumpur that the number of countries involved in the search and rescue operation has increased from 14 to 25 and he appealed to those countries to provide satellite information, radar playback as well as aircraft and ships to continue the ever-expanding search.
