A Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) search and rescue (SAR) team at the location of the overturned sand dredge in the waters off Parit Jawa in Muar today. — Picture courtesy of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency

JOHOR BAHRU, March 27 — The search and rescue (SAR) operation to look for nine missing crew members of the capsized sand-dredging vessel, JBB Rong Chang 8, was expanded today.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Southern Region deputy director (Operations), Maritime Capt Sanifah Yusof said the search area was expanded to 560 sq nautical miles from 400 sq nautical miles yesterday.

“Today, the search area is expanded to 560 (sq) nautical miles from the waters off Batu Pahat to the waters off Pulau Besar in Melaka.

“However, the number of SAR team members and assets involved are still the same, namely 250 people from various agencies as well as six boats, four ships and a helicopter,” he told a press conference here today.

Sanifah said no victims were found as of late this afternoon despite the SAR operation having entered its seventh day.

Help from the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) of Indonesia was still being sought to locate victims who might have been swept into the waters off the republic, he said.

Meanwhile, Sanifah said the SAR operations centre at Pantai Leka in Parit Jawa, Muar was relocated to the Batu Pahat MMEA Office to facilitate monitoring work.

However, the coordination of the SAR operation was still being conducted through the Maritime Rescue Sub Centre in Johor Bahru, he said.

When asked if there were instances of victims rescued by merchant ships passing through the area, Sanifah did not rule out the possibility.

“That route in the Strait of Melaka is busy. So, that could have happened. However, if that were to happen, the merchant ships would have definitely informed us,” he said.

The sand-dredger, carrying 18 crew members including one Malaysian, capsized in waters off Parit Jawa on March 21.

Five were rescued while four bodies were found. Two of the dead have yet to be identified. Nine are still missing. — Bernama</s>MELBOURNE: The search area for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has been doubled to cover a larger area of the ocean floor, with investigators admitting that they don’t know where else to look after this.

The Australia Transportation Safety Bureau’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said that the search plan had been modified to include a 120,000 square kilometre area of the southern Indian Ocean, and added that teams had already started to scour the expanded area, reports news.com.au.

The statement quoted experts, as saying that the highest probability of finding the aircraft was within a 46,000 square mile search area.

The Boeing 777 aircraft, along with 239 passengers and crew went missing in March last year on a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.</s>JAKARTA: A boat carrying Indonesian workers home from Malaysia capsized in stormy weather Wednesday, and police said at least 20 people died and 39 have been rescued.

About 90 people were on the vessel that capsized off the island of Batam about 5 a.m, Batam police chief Sambudi Gusdian said. The search effort underway for hours has rescued 39 survivors so far.

The passengers are Indonesians who work in Malaysia.

Haryanto, a 51-year-old survivor, said the speedboat capsized amid heavy rains and high waves about two hours after it left Johor Bahru in Malaysia.</s>Officials have said there was an 85 per cent chance of finding the debris in a new 25,000-square-kilometer search area --- roughly the size of Vermont -- identified by experts. (AFP File photo)

KUALA LUMPUR: The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 by a US company will likely end in June, a Malaysian official said, as families of passengers marked the fourth anniversary of the plane's disappearance with renewed hope that the world's biggest aviation mystery will be solved.

Malaysia inked a "no cure, no fee" deal with Houston, Texas-based Ocean Infinity in January to resume the hunt for the plane, a year after the official search in the southern Indian Ocean by Malaysia, Australia and China was called off.

Ocean Infinity started the search on January 22 and has 90 search days to look for the plane.

Malaysia's civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, said the 90-day term will spread over a few months because the search vessel has to refuel in Australia and bad weather could be a factor.

Azharuddin said today the search is going smoothly and is expected to end by mid-June.

"The whole world, including the next of kin, have (new) hope to find the plane for closure," he told reporters at a remembrance event at a shopping mall near Kuala Lumpur.

"For the aviation world, we want to know what exactly happened to the plane."

Officials have said there was an 85 per cent chance of finding the debris in a new 25,000-square-kilometer search area --- roughly the size of Vermont -- identified by experts.

If the mission is successful within three months, payment will be made based on the size of the area searched.

Malaysia says it will pay Ocean Infinity USD 20 million for 5,000 square kilometers of a successful search, USD 30 million for 15,000 square kilometers, USD 50 million for 25,000 square kilometers and USD 70 million if the plane or flight recorders are found beyond the identified area.

The plane vanished March 8, 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

The official search was extremely difficult because no transmissions were received from the aircraft after its first 38 minutes of flight.

Systems designed to automatically transmit the flight's position failed to work after this point, according to a final report issued in January 2017 by the Australian Transport Safety Board.

Family members lit candles on a stage today and observed a moment of silence during the three-hour event.

Most are split over whether the search will be fruitful.

"It doesn't renew (any hope) because I also have to be realistic. It has been four years," said Intan Maizura Othman, whose husband was a flight attendant on the plane.

She was pregnant when the plane disappeared and attended the event with her now 4-year-old son.

Jiang Hui of China, whose mother was on board the plane, said that he was grateful for Ocean Infinity's courage to mount the search, but that he hopes it will not be the end if the mission fails.

He proposed for a public fund to be set up to continue the search.

"Without a search, there will be no truth," Jiang said.</s>The U.S. Coast Guard has suspended its search for a man who reportedly fell overboard from an oil tanker traveling past the Aleutian Islands.

Petty Officer Lauren Dean says air crews spent 14 hours searching for the 22-year-old mariner, who went missing Sunday afternoon from the M/V Challenge Prelude.

“Due to the length of time, and with the extreme environment, the District 17 Command Center made the call to suspend the search,” Dean said.

Coast Guard responders covered almost 700 square miles in their search, which began south of Sand Point.

Dean says the tanker also retraced part of its own route in an effort to locate the man, whose name has not been released.

“Situations like this are never easy,” Dean said. “Our deepest condolences do go out to his family and friends. It is a tragedy.”

The Challenge Prelude was traveling from South Korea to Anchorage when the man went missing. Dean says it’s unclear why he fell overboard.

About 24 hours after he went missing from an oil tanker, the U.S. Coast Guard is deciding whether to continue its search for a man who reportedly fell overboard in Aleutian waters.

The master of the M/V Challenge Prelude noticed the 23-year-old mariner was missing Sunday afternoon when the vessel was 126 miles south of Sand Point.

The tanker turned around to search for the man, while Air Station Kodiak sent two aircrews to assist.

“The helicopter was able to do two flights and the C-130 flew for quite a long time along the vessel’s track line,” Lt. Brian Dykens said. “But we haven’t done any searches [on Monday], and the command center is planning the next course of action.”

Dykens said the Coast Guard will make a decision on the search Monday afternoon. There’s been no sign of the missing mariner, whose name hasn’t been released.</s>On Tuesday, coast guard crews found a boat two miles away from Halfway Creek Boat Launch in Erie Township, where a search for a man was underway.

Police believe 35-year-old Brent Burton of Toledo launched his 14-foot aluminum boat from Halfway Creek around 10 a.m. Monday. He was headed to Turtle Island, but has not been seen since.

Burton's fiance told authorities that he is an avid fisher and was wearing a life jacket at the time.

His family and friends gathered, comforting each other as the search and rescue took place.

"He was a boater and a fisherman, so it sounds like he was pretty boat savy. I imagine with these winds, like any boater knows, it doesn't take long for the winds and the lake to kick up and danger to approach," said Dean Ansel, Chief of Erie Township Police.

A boat matching the description of Burton's was found floating in the Maumee Bay, off the Michigan shore. A gas can was also found near Luna Pier.

The rescue team says the wind played a huge factor in their search.

"The accident site could be point A and by now it's at point B, which could be miles away. So it makes the search a lot harder if we had calmer winds," said Ansel.

The search and rescue for Burton has since been suspended.

“The decision to suspend a search and rescue case is one of the most difficult to make,” said Cmdr. Kevin Floyd, chief of prevention for Coast Guard Sector Detroit. “I extend my sincere condolences to the family and friends of Brenton Burton. After conducting an exhaustive search with our partner agencies in Lake Erie covering more than 250 square miles by air and boat, we made the decision to suspend the active search.”

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Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) expands the search area to 560 square nautical miles for nine crewmen missing since March 21 from a capsized sand dredger off the coast of Malaysia. MMEA requests for the Indonesian National Search and Rescue Agency to assist in the operation.