26 countries searching for missing Malaysia Airlines plane

Originally published March 18, 2014

The search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 was expanded to the northern and southern hemispheres on Monday (March 17). The search effort now involves 26 countries covering an area of more than 10,000 kilometres (6,000 miles), roughly twice the size of Africa and one-tenth the size of the planet.

In the latest revelation about the plane, Malaysian authorities have revealed that the co-pilot was the person who was last heard over Malaysian frequencies before contact with the plane was lost. Authorities have also released CCTV footage of the pilot and co-pilot going through security check at the airport. However, their behavior seemed routine and officials did not consider anything to be out of the ordinary.

The countries involved in the search include Malaysia, Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkmenistan, UAE, UK, U.S., Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

The assistance that Malaysia is requesting from these countries, where applicable, is radar and satellite information, land, sea and aerial search operations and search and rescue action plans of those countries.