New Delhi, March 12
The Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force have been asked to be in state of readiness after Malaysia requested for help to locate it missing commercial jet-liner.

Coastguards from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands joined the airborne search on Wednesday for the missing Malaysian airliner, a senior official said.

A Dornier aircraft belonging to the coastguard set off at 2.30 pm local time to search the eastern side of the Andaman islands, on orders from New Delhi, said VSR Murthy, the inspector general of the coastguard service on the islands.

The Indian Navy has one of the most potent reconnaissance planes - the Boeing P8-I. The Navy and IAF planes can fly off at short notice. Malaysia has widened its search to the Andaman sea that lies east of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. India has tri-services command at Andaman complete with amphibious warships, army troops, UAVs and IAF component.

Malaysian authorities contacted Indian counterparts seeking help in searching areas near the Andaman for the Malaysia Airlines plane, said Ministry of External Affairs spokesman Syed Akbaruddin. India had appointed a contact person to liaise with Malaysian authorities, but did not give details about what kind of help India would offer.