(VOVworld)- Senior Lieutenant General Do Ba Ty, Chief of the General Staff of Vietnam People’s Army and Deputy Defense Minister held a meeting on Monday with rescue forces of the Ministry of Defense on the search for a missing Malaysian passenger jet.

HQ 627 ship of Navy Region 5 departs to assist two other HQ ships in the search.

Vice Chief of the General Staff, Lieutenant General Vu Van Tuan, who is also Vice President of the National Civil Aviation Security Committee said that the National Center for Search and Rescue is expanding the search area and conducting round-the-clock search at the request of Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai:“The coordination between forces is arranged according to areas. Now US Navy ships and Malaysian airplanes have joined the search. China has sent 2 naval ships coded 528 and 999 to Vietnam to carry out the search. Airplanes are flying at different altitudes to ensure safety. Below the height of 1,500 meters are planes of the Vietnamese Air Force and above that height are those from other countries who have joined the search”. Senior Lieutenant Do Ba Ty asked all Vietnamese search and rescue forces to recover suspicious objects and immediately report to the Command Committee as soon as they discover them to avoid information interference.

2 helicopters depart from Ca Mau to the target area to join the search efforts

The same day, the Vietnam People’s Army sent 2 helicopters from Ca Mau to the target area to join the search efforts. There are currently 23 airplanes and 39 ships from Vietnam, Malaysia, China, the US, the Philippines and Singapore participating in the search.

A Vietnamese hydroplane DHC6 was ready for take off at Phu Quoc airport on Monday to carry out its 2^nd flight in search for the missing Malaysian plane.

The hydroplane DHC6 is ready for search and rescue activities

Earlier, searchers on this plane spotted a suspected broken piece of the missing plane at sea on Sunday.

Deputy Minister Transport Pham Quy Tieu (first from the left) discusses plans for search and rescue at Phu Quoc.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh talked by phone with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Sunday regarding search activities for the missing plane. Minh said the Vietnamese government is greatly concerned about the incident and Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung directed agencies to mobilize all possible search and rescue resources. He said the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry and agencies are ready to assist other countries in search and rescue activities. Minister Wang Yi thanked the Vietnamese government and people for their support and praised Vietnam’s on-going search and rescue activities.

International reporters have arrived in Phu Quoc

Minister Minh also had talked by phone with Malaysian Foreign Minister Dato Sri Anifah Hj Aman regarding the search.