A group of ships were yesterday converging on an area of ocean where large metal objects have been detected by sonar in the continuing search for a missing Indonesian airliner.
The Adam Air plane, with 96 passengers and six crew, vanished on New Year's Day, halfway through a flight between the central island of Java and the island of Sulawesi.
The search has focused on the west of Sulawesi and nearby waters, an area covering tens of thousands of square kilometers
Large metal objects have been detected by sonar in deep waters off western Sulawesi.
"We are now concentrating on following up the findings off the coast of Tanjung Rangas in Mamuju district," said Eastern Fleet spokesman Toni Syaiful.
"Our efforts are now focused on trying to identify the findings, whether it is the airplane that we are looking for," he told reporters.
Efforts to identify the objects was to be bolstered by the arrival later yesterday of the US Navy oceanographic survey ship USNS Mary Sears, he said.
One Indonesian ship is already at the scene.
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