CANBERRA, March 25--The search and recovery operation for the missing flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean will resume on Wednesday after it was suspended Tuesday due to bad weather, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said in its latest statement Tuesday.

"A visual search will resume tomorrow when the weather is expected to improve after gale force winds and heavy swells resulted in the suspension of the search operation on Tuesday," the statement said, adding as many as 12 aircraft were expected to be involved in the search Wednesday.

In addition to six countries -- Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan, China and South Korea -- which are now assisting in the search, India has also offered to join the search and recovery operation, according to the statement.

It also revealed that the Australian Navy Ship HMAS Success would return to the search area and "conduct a surface sweep of an area identified on Monday afternoon by a Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion as the location for several objects of interest."

China's icebreaker Xuelong (Snow Dragon) and three other Chinese ships were expected to arrive in the search area on Wednesday, it added.

The AMSA suspended the search for debris and other signs of the missing plane due to adverse weather conditions Tuesday morning.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said earlier that "what has been as search has moved into a recovery phase," according to media reports.