( Xinhua) 16:22, March 18, 2014 China's largest rescue vessel, Haixun 01, headed toward Singapore on Tuesday to join inthe search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
The vessel is estimated to arrive in the waters near Singapore for supplies on Wednesdaybefore dawn and will continue its way to help search for the jet in waters near the SundaStrait.
Haixun 01 received the search order on March 17. The vessel is equipped with a helicopter,underwater robot, black box search instrument, side-scan sonar and magnetometer. It isone of China's most advanced search and rescue vessels.
It is the first Chinese patrol vessel to incorporate both marine inspection and rescuefunctions. The 128.6-meter-long vessel has a tonnage of 5,418 tons and a maximum sailingdistance of over 10,000 sea miles without refueling.
The search for flight MH370, a Boeing 777-200ER, entered its 11th day on Tuesday afterthe plane went missing on its way to Beijing on March 8, carrying 12 crew and 227passengers, including 154 Chinese.
At 8:00 a.m. on Tuesday, China's Ministry of Transportation ordered all Chinese vessels inthe Gulf of Thailand to leave for searches in the waters southeast of the Bay of Bengal andnear the Sunda Strait. （Editor：GaoYinan、Yao Chun） Related readingFull coverage
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