Up to 14 planes, including 10 military aircraft and four civil aircraft, and 13 ships will assist in Thursday's search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 following Wednesday's "encouraging lead" found by the Ocean Shield, the latest update from the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC) said on Thursday.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has planned a search area of about 57,923 square kilometers, approximately 2280 kilometers north west of Perth Thursday.

Aircraft and ships reported spotting a large number of objects during Wednesday's search, but only a small number were able to be recovered. JACC said none of the recovered items were believed to be associated with MH370.

The underwater search continues Thursday, with ADV Ocean Shield at the northern end of the defined search area, and Chinese ship Haixun 01 and HMS Echo at the southern end.

Australian ship Ocean Shield detected two more suspicious signals Wednesday, which renewed hope that the missing Malaysian jetliner might soon be found.

"I'm now optimistic that we will find the aircraft, or what is left of the aircraft, in the not-too-distant future," said Angus Houston, head of Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC) at a press conference on Wednesday.

The Beijing-bound flight carrying 227 passengers, including 154 Chinese, and 12 crew members disappeared on March 8.

Since then, China, along with more than 20 other countries, has joined the unprecedented international search for the plane.

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)