MH370: Japanese aircrafts arrive to aid in search of missing plane

Two Japanese P3 Orion aircrafts touched down at the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Pearce in Perth at dusk on Sunday to aid in the search and rescue operation for the missing MH370 flight.

The aircrafts and crew were received by RAAF Commander of the Task Unit, Group Captain Craig Heap, along with several Japanese foreign ministry personnel.

"The arrival of the Japanese will definitely complement and benefit our efforts in the operation," said Captain Heap.

The two Japanese aircrafts will join in the search operations as soon as possible once the crew have been briefed of the procedures.

As of today, the search area in the Indian Ocean, which is 2,500 km southwest of Perth, has been extended to 59,000 square kilometres from the initial 23,000.

Eight aircrafts departed Perth today, four of them were civilian aircrafts.

The search from Perth has now entered its fourth day with no sign of any of the objects that were seen in an earlier satellite image released by the Australian authorities.