China's largest rescue vessel headed for jet search

BEIJING, March 18 -- China's largest rescue vessel, Haixun 01, headed toward Singapore on Tuesday to join in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The vessel is estimated to arrive in the waters near Singapore for supplies on Wednesday before dawn and will continue its way to help search for the jet in waters near the Sunda Strait.

Haixun 01 received the search order on March 17. The vessel is equipped with a helicopter, underwater robot, black box search instrument, side-scan sonar and magnetometer. It is one of China's most advanced search and rescue vessels.

It is the first Chinese patrol vessel to incorporate both marine inspection and rescue functions. The 128.6-meter-long vessel has a tonnage of 5,418 tons and a maximum sailing distance of over 10,000 sea miles without refueling.

The search for flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER, entered its 11th day on Tuesday after the plane went missing on its way to Beijing on March 8, carrying 12 crew and 227 passengers, including 154 Chinese.

At 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, China's Ministry of Transportation ordered all Chinese vessels in the Gulf of Thailand to leave for searches in the waters southeast of the Bay of Bengal and near the Sunda Strait.