Abu Dhabi, March 18 (IANS/WAM): The UAE Armed Forces are taking part in the search operations for the Malaysian Airlines passenger plane that went missing March 8, a source here said.

The source at the headquarters of the armed forces said Monday the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Armed Forces are using two search and rescue aircrafts covering a zone stretching south over the Indian Ocean to Australia and north over an area extending to south and central Asia. There are 26 countries currently involved in the search operations.

Malaysia Airlines MH370 with 239 passengers and crew on board vanished mysteriously about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur March 8.

The Boeing 777-200ER was initially presumed to have crashed off the Vietnamese coast in the South China Sea.

The plane was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6.30 a.m. the same day. The 227 passengers included five Indians, 154 Chinese and 38 Malaysians.

Contact with the plane was lost along with its radar signal at 1.40 a.m. when it was flying over the air traffic control area of Ho Chi Minh City.