Malaysia, Vietnam recheck area of suspected debris

Vietnam's Air Force Deputy Chief of Staff Senior Colonel Do Duc Minh points to the map of a search area to find the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, during a news briefing at a military airport in Ho Chi Minh city March 13, 2014.

Malaysia and Vietnam have sent planes to recheck the area where Chinese satellites showed objects that could be debris from the missing jet.  [Special coverage]

Now, 12 countries are taking part in a coordinated operation, with Japan, India and Brunei being the latest to join the effort. As of today, 42 ships and 39 aircrafts are carrying out the mission. The search was initially focused on waters off the Vietnamese coast.

But it has been expanded to cover a 185 kilometer radius, including the Malaysian peninsula, the Strait of Malacca and an area north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Malaysia's military has traced hundreds of miles to the west of the jet's last known position.

It has also asked India for help in tracing the aircraft and New Delhi's coast guard planes have joined the search. Vietnam's search efforts have resumed in full force after briefly scaling down due to poor information from Malaysia.

Meanwhile, China has dispatched nine vessels for the search and rescue mission. Eight are already in position. The country also sent two more planes to assist with the mission on Wednesday. China has expanded its own search area, which now covers 16,000 square kilometers, almost doubled the initial area. Chinese merchant ships in the Strait of Malacca are also being asked to help with the search mission.