TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - France joined the multinational search and rescue team for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, bringing the number of countries involved in this unprecedented operation to 26.
As reported by Malaysian Insider, three officials from France's Bureau of Inquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety (BEA) arrived in Kuala Lumpur to share their expertise based on their experience in the Air France crash of 2009.
The countries which have so far joined Malaysia in the search are Australia, Bangladesh, Brunei, China, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, Turkmenistan, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.
The transport ministry said that the Royal Malaysian Navy and the Royal Malaysian Air Force will deploy their assets to the southern corridor of the new search area announced on Saturday, which extends from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.
AMIRULLAH | MALAYSIAN INSIDER