The U.S. Navy has sent a second ship to the South China Sea to help in the search for a missing Malaysian jet, officials said Monday. The naval destroyer USS Kidd has joined another American destroyer, the USS Pinckney, as Malaysian authorities announced that they were doubling the size of the search area for the airliner that vanished without a trace Saturday with 239 on board. "We are continuing to assist the Malaysian government in search and rescue operations in conjunction with the disappearance of Flight 370," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren told reporters. The two U.S. naval ships are equipped with MH-60 Sea Hawk helicopters, which are equipped with infrared cameras for night-time search operations, Warren said. On Sunday, the Pickney spotted debris in the water, but officers determined it was not wreckage from the missing airliner and merely "an old shipping crate," Warren said. A P-3C Orion surveillance aircraft was already in place and was conducting nine-hour flights from a base in Subang Jaya, Malaysia. Warren said that an oil vessel was also deployed to provide logistics support. -- SPA 23:15 LOCAL TIME 20:15 GMT تغريد
