Timeline: The search for missing jet MH370

A Chinese IL-76 aircraft reached the search area in the southern Indian Ocean on Wednesday morning and began searching for missing flight MH370. [Special coverage]

As the hunt enters its 19th day, three other aircraft are en route to the area where Chinese airborne searchers spotted debris on Monday.

Here is a timeline of the search for the Malaysia Airlines aircraft which vanished from radar screens on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.

SATURDAY, MARCH 8

-- The Boeing 777-200 aircraft carrying 227 passengers (including 154 Chinese) and 12 crew members takes off from Kuala Lumpur at 00:41 a.m. and is expected to land in Beijing at 6:30 a.m. the same day.

-- Contact with the flight is lost at 1:20 a.m., when it is believed to be in Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh air traffic control area.

-- President Xi Jinping urges all-out search and rescue efforts.

-- Vietnam launches a search operation in its waters where the plane is presumed to have crashed, while Malaysia, China, Singapore, the Philippines and the United States all dispatch rescue vessels and aircraft to search for the missing jet.

-- Vietnamese planes spot two "suspicious" oil slicks near the plane's last known location, but the finding turns out to be unconnected.

-- Two passengers are reported to have boarded the plane using stolen passports.

SUNDAY, MARCH 9

-- Chinese rescue vessels arrive at the search site.

-- Nine nations join the hunt for the missing plane but no significant discoveries are reported.

MONDAY, MARCH 10

-- China works out a search plan involving four patrol and rescue vessels and two naval warships, and adjusts high-resolution satellites to help with the search.

-- A 13-member working group sent by the Chinese government arrives in Kuala Lumpur.

-- An oil slick spotted by the search team of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) and some floating objects spotted earlier are confirmed not to be connected to the missing jet.

TUESDAY, MARCH 11

-- Five Chinese vessels arrive at waters of MH370's last known location.

-- Dozens of ships and planes from about 10 countries and regions scour the waters, but no solid clues are found.

-- The multinational search mission is extended to land, with the focus on the West Peninsular of Malaysia at the Strait of Malacca.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12

-- Chinese vessels continue to search waters, but no debris is found.

-- The MMEA moves its search and rescue teams to the Andaman Sea to the south of Thailand, where the Thai Navy has been searching for three days.

-- Malaysia's air force chief denies reports that military radar tracked MH370 flying over the Strait of Malacca, but says they have not ruled out the possibility that the aircraft turned back before it vanished from radar screens.

-- Vietnam officials say the missing Malaysian jetliner seems unlikely to have fallen in waters off Vietnam.