FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 2013623

Emergency workers, police officers and even off-duty coal miners _ dressed in overalls and covered in soot _ spread out across sunflower fields and tiny Ukrainian villages Friday, searching through the wreckage of the Malaysian plane shot down as it flew miles above the country's battlefield.

The downing killed 298 people from nearly a dozen nations. By midday, 181 bodies had been located, according to emergency workers at the sprawling crash site.

Separatist rebels who control the eastern area where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was brought down Thursday said they had recovered most of its black boxes and were considering what to do with them. Their statement had profound implications for the integrity of the plane crash investigation.

U.S. intelligence authorities said a surface-to-air missile downed the plane, but could not say who fired it.

Ukraine has called for an international probe to determine who attacked the plane and insisted it was not its military.

An angry Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Friday demanded an independent inquiry into the downing and called Russia's response to it "deeply, deeply unsatisfactory."

"The initial response of the Russian ambassador was to blame Ukraine for this and I have to say that is deeply, deeply unsatisfactory," he said. "It's very important that we don't allow Russia to prevent an absolutely comprehensive investigation so that we can find out exactly what happened here."

"This is not an accident, it's a crime," he added.

The crash site was spread out over fields between two villages in eastern Ukraine _ Rozsypne and Hrabove _ and access to it remained difficult and dangerous. The road from Donetsk, the largest city in the region, to the crash site was marked by five rebel checkpoints Friday, with document checks at each.

Fighting apparently still continued nearby. In the distance, the thud of Grad missile launchers being fired could be heard Friday morning.

In the sunflower fields around Rozsypne, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border, lines of men disappeared into the thick and tall growth Friday. One fainted after finding a body. Another body was covered in a coat.

In Hrabove, several miles away, huge numbers of simple sticks, some made from tree branches, were affixed with red or white rags to mark spots where body parts were found.

Ukraine Foreign Ministry representative Andriy Sybiga said 181 bodies had been found, citing local emergency workers at the site. He said the bodies will be taken to Kharkiv, a government-controlled city 270 kilometers (170 miles) to the north, for identification.

Among the debris were watches and smashed mobile phones, charred boarding passes and passports. An "I Love Amsterdam" T-shirt and a guidebook to Bali hinted at holiday plans.

Large chunks of the Boeing 777 that bore the airline's red, white and blue markings lay strewn over one field. The cockpit and one turbine lay a kilometer (a half-mile) apart, and residents said the tail landed another 10 kilometers (six miles) away.

One rebel militiaman in Rozsypne told The Associated Press that the plane's fuselage showed signs of being struck by a projectile.

The area has seen heavy fighting between government troops and pro-Russia separatists, and rebels had bragged about shooting down two Ukrainian military jets in the region just a day earlier.

Ukraine accused the rebels of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane. The rebels denied it and accused government forces of the same; President Petro Poroshenko denied it as well.

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed Ukraine for the downing, saying it was responsible for the unrest in its Russian-speaking eastern regions _ but did not accuse Ukraine of shooting the plane down and not address the key question of whether Russia gave the rebels such a powerful missile. Ukraine and the West have accused Russia of supporting the rebels, a charge that Moscow denies.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk described the downing Friday as an "international crime" whose perpetrators would have to be punished in an international tribunal.

"Yesterday's terrible tragedy will change our lives. The Russians have done it now," he was cited as saying by the Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

An assistant to the insurgency's military commander, Igor Girkin, said Friday on condition of anonymity that eight out of the plane's 12 recording devices had been located at the crash site. He did not elaborate. Since airplanes normally have both a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder, it was not exactly clear what devices he was referring to.

He said Girkin was still considering whether to give international crash investigators access to the sprawling crash site. Any investigators would need specific permission from the rebel leadership before they could safely film or take photos at the crash site, he said.

Kenneth Quinn of the Flight Safety Foundation said an international coalition of countries should lead the investigation. The Unites States has offered to help.

Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lay repeatedly insisted Friday that the airline's path was an internationally approved route and denied accusations that Malaysia Airlines was trying to save fuel and money by taking a more direct flight path across Ukraine.

"I want to stress that this route is an approved path that is used by many airlines including 15 Asia-Pacific airlines. We have not been informed that the path cannot be used," he said

Malaysia's prime minister said there was no distress call before the plane went down.

Aviation authorities in several countries, including the FAA in the United States, had issued previous warnings not to fly over parts of Ukraine after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March. Within hours of the crash Thursday, several airlines announced they were avoiding parts of Ukrainian airspace.

On Friday, Ukraine's state aviation service closed the airspace over two regions currently gripped by fighting _ Donetsk and Luhansk _ and Russian aviation regulators said Russian airlines have suspended all transit flights over Ukraine.

At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Airlines updated its nationality count of passengers, saying the plane carried 173 Dutch, 24 Malaysian, 27 Australian, 12 Indonesian, 9 British, 4 German, 4 Belgian, 3 Filipino and one person each from Canada and New Zealand.

Passengers on the plane included a large contingent of world-renowned AIDS researchers and activists headed to an international AIDS conference in Melbourne, Australia. News of their deaths sparked an outpouring of grief across the global scientific community.

In Kuala Lumpur, several relatives of victims were meeting with counselors at the international airport. A distraught Akmar Mohamad Noor, 67, said her older sister was coming to visit the family for the first time in five years.

"She called me just before she boarded the plane and said, `See you soon,"' Akmar said.

In the Netherlands, flags were flying at half-staff across the country as residents mourned the victims.

Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to Ukraine's interior minister, said on his Facebook page the plane was flying at about 10,000 meters (33,000 feet) when it was hit by a missile from a Buk launcher, which can fire up to an altitude of 22,000 meters (72,000 feet). He said only that his information was based on "intelligence."

AP TELEVISION

Hrabove, Ukraine - 18 July, 2014

1. Various debris and personal items on ground, emergency workers and volunteers searching through sunflower fields.

International observers said on Sunday that 169 bodies of those killed in the Malaysian Airline MH17 crash in eastern Ukraine have been removed from the crash site and loaded into refrigerated trains nearby.

Michael Bociurkiw, the spokesman of the Organisation of Security and Corporation (OSCE) mission to Ukraine, the organisation in charge of investigating the crash, said the train cars were expected to be taken to Ukrainian - controlled territories such as Kharkiv, where they could be processed.

"Today was quite a significant development in the sense that we were able to, under very good security, visit the village of Torez, near the crash site. There, we went to the railway station and at the railway station there were several cars, three or four which were refrigerated. We were told these cars hold victims of the MH17 crash," he told reporters gathered in Kiev, by phone.

According to Bociurkiw, the body bags had been numbered by pro-Russian rebels, who told him they loaded 169 bodies into the train.

The OSCE team, however, did not enter the train cars to investigate because they didn't have safety equipment to wear.

Walking through the crash site while speaking over the phone to journalists in Kiev, Bociurkiw suggested that some bodies might never be found.

"This is an area which was exposed to the most intense heat. We do not see any bodies here. It appears that some have been vaporised, not only bodies but also parts. The heat must have been absolutely intense," he said.

The Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council Spokesperson Andriy Lysenko said 196 bodies had been recovered and the search area was expanded.

Rebels said the bodies recovered from the crash site would remain in refrigerated train cars at a station in the rebel-held town of Torez, 15 kilometres (9 miles) away, until the arrival of an international aviation delegation.

They also said they have recovered the black boxes from downed Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 and would hand them over to the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Ukraine and the separatists accuse each other of firing a surface-to-air missile Thursday at Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 as it flew from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur some 33,000 feet (10,000 metres) above the battlefields of

eastern Ukraine.

Both deny shooting down the plane. All those onboard the flight - 283 passengers and 15 crew - were killed.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of news conference

2. Cutaway of journalists

3. Close up of screen showing picture of Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) special monitoring mission to Ukraine

4. STILL OF Bociurkiw on screen, AUDIO: (English) Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine (speaking on phone)

"Okay, well, today was quite a significant development in the sense that we were able to, under very good security, visit the village of Torez, near the crash site. There, we went to the railway station and at the railway station there were several cars, three or four which were refrigerated. We were told these cars hold victims of the MH17 crash."

5. Close up of sign reading (English) "Ukraine Crisis media centre"

6. Cutaway of journalists

7. STILL OF Bociurkiw, AUDIO: (English) Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine (speaking on phone)

"Right. Okay so we were told there are 169 - one-six-nine (bodies). Because of the conditions of the train, I mean you need professional protective equipment to go in there, and the stench was absolutely overwhelming. I don't want to be too gruesome but it is a very, very difficult scene to watch. We were told that, for the time being, those cars will be stationary. And that they were wondering when experts will be arriving to start processing the bodies. But I think the kind of thinking is that the cars should be taken to Ukrainian-controlled territories such as Kharkiv and they can be processed there."

8. Cutaway of cameraman

9. Wide of news conference

10. STILL OF Bociurkiw, AUDIO: (English) Michael Bociurkiw, spokesman for OSCE special monitoring mission to Ukraine (speaking on phone)

"We're looking at the field where the engines have come down. This is an area which was exposed to the most intense heat. We do not see any bodies here. It appears that some have been vaporised, not only bodies but also parts. The heat must have been absolutely intense."

11. Andriy Lysenko, Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council Spokesperson, speaking

12. Cutaway cameras

13. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Andriy Lysenko, Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council Spokesperson:

"The bodies of 196 people have been found and the search operation committee has expanded the search area from 25 to 34 square kilometres."

14. Cutaway of cameramen

15. Cutaway of journalists

16. SOUNDBITE (Ukrainian) Andriy Lysenko, Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council Spokesperson:

"All the bodies that have been directly under the sun have started to decompose. It is necessary to collect everything as fast as possible and remove them because it is becoming a danger to the civilian population of the area."

17. Cutaway of cameraman

18. Wide of news conference

The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and police experts were unable to search a field at the Malaysia Airlines crash site in Ukraine due to security concerns caused by nearby fighting.

Alexander Hug, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Ukraine, said they had to stop the convoy at "a secure location" before the field "due to security considerations".

Despite the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crashing on July 17, the OSCE could only start their recovery operation last week.

Hug stressed that the OSCE mission would continue their work "not only in Donetsk itself but all over, in the region and across Ukraine," at the invitation of the Ukrainian government.

The team's top priority is the collection of victims' remains that have been lying out in the open, in the midsummer heat, for more than two weeks.

Recovery has been delayed by the ongoing fighting between pro-Russia separatists and the Ukrainian government in the Donetsk region.

AP TELEVISION

1. Mid of recovery mission cars

2. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander Hug, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Ukraine:

"We are just back from the fifth day in a row from the crash site. We left this morning Donetsk and then picked up, in Debaltseve, the convoy of a hundred experts of police. We moved with them on to a crash site, on to a field they have not yet searched. However, it was not possible for us to reach that field due to security considerations and we stopped the convoy at a secure location."

3. Mid of maps

4. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander Hug, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Ukraine:

"Shortly after two in the afternoon we identified a different field, nearby the location we wanted to lead the experts to, and shortly afterwards the experts and police arrived on that field and searched the field for human remains and personal belongings."

5. Mid camera

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Alexander Hug, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Ukraine:

"The OSCE monitoring mission is in Ukraine upon the invitation of the government of Ukraine. It has been here since the 21st of March this year, and has ever since been here in Donetsk and will continue to do its work here in Donetsk region, not only Donetsk itself but all over in the region and across Ukraine."

7. Close zoom out OSCE sign

Chinese relatives of missing passengers from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370) criticised a report released by the Malaysian authorities on Sunday, the first anniversary of the flight's disappearance.

Relatives gathered near the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing to demand a more complete investigation into what happened to the Boeing 777 that went missing with 239 people on board.

The first comprehensive report into the plane's disappearance revealed that the battery of the locator beacon for the plane's data recorder was dated to expire more than a year before the jet vanished.

The 584-page report by a 19-member independent investigation group went into minute details about the crew's lives, including their medical and financial records and training.

It also detailed the aircraft's service record, as well as the weather, communications systems and other aspects of the flight.

"The report they gave us today is a similar version of former ones. It has nothing new," said Dai Shuqin, whose sister and four other relatives where aboard the missing flight.

Despite the exhaustive search for the plane, which disappeared on 8 March 2014 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, no trace of the jet has been found.

In January 2015, the Malaysian government formally declared the incident an accident and said all the people on board were presumed dead.

AP TELEVISION

Beijing - 8 March 2015

1. Chinese relatives of passengers from missing MH370 flight, chanting, UPSOUND (Mandarin): "Continue the search!"

2. Close of woman shouting, UPSOUND (Mandarin): "Give us our relatives back!"

3. Pan from media to protesters

4. Mid of protesters chanting, UPSOUND (Mandarin): "Protect our rights!"

5. Wide from protester to Liu Guiqiu, mother of passenger Li Lei, who was aboard missing flight MH370, shouting, UPSOUND (Mandarin): "Long life the Communist Party!"

6. Close of Liu crying

7. Mid of protesters

8. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Liu Guiqiu, mother of passenger Li Lei who was aboard missing flight MH370:

"It has been a whole year and until today there has been no truth. Malaysia says one day that the plane lost connection, and the next day that the plane is missing. We do not know what is true. If it is missing, you (Malaysian authorities) should find me the body of my son. Even if it is just a body, then I will have nothing else to say. But now there is nothing. You are hiding information. Now you say that the plan is missing� how can we accept it?"

9. Liu holding sign

10. Close of sign reading (Mandarin) "Never give up"

11. Pan from sign printed on T-shirt to wide of protest

12. Various of placards

13. Placards being held by protesters, including drawing of family reading (English): "Dad, I miss u!"

14. Close up of Liu Dianyun, mother of 33 year-old passenger Liu Jinpeng who was aboard missing flight MH370

15. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Liu Dianyun, mother of passenger Liu Jinpeng who was aboard missing flight MH370:

"(Chinese President) Chairman Xi (Jinping) said that they would find them. We believe him and we cannot lose faith in him. Because if we do not support him, nobody is going to find our dear ones. All we can do is wait for them, and hope that the media will help us find them as well."

Man next to Liu interrupting her, saying (Mandarin):

"(Chinese President) Chairman Xi (Jinping) has already said that they would continue looking for them."

16. Police officers and police car

17. Relatives seated on ground

18. Close of relative

19. Tilt down from relative to sign reading (English): "MH370 tell us truth."

20. Two relatives walking with signs

21. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Dai Shuqin, 61 year-old whose sister and four other relatives who where aboard flight MH370:

"The report they give us today is similar to the previous ones. It has nothing new. They should have given us the report yesterday, but they did not, so we had to wait and wait. Finally, they gave it to us today, but it is very shallow. It does not tell the truth about MH370."

22. Close of sign reading (English): "MH370, today it is us, tomorrow it could be you"

23. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Dai Shuqin, 61 year-old whose sister and four other relatives who where aboard flight MH370:

"Many people in China have already forgotten about MH370. Because China never published any real information about MH370 in any official way and according to Malaysia, the have all died. So many Chinese people think that this is the end. They do not pay attention to it anymore."

24. Police officers guarding access to Malaysian Embassy

25. Wide of police cordon outside Malaysian Embassy

FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: apus007881

VOICE-OVER SCRIPT:

FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE VICTIMS OF MALAYSIA FLIGHT 3-70 STORMED OUT OF A BRIEFING FRIDAY --

FRUSTRATED THAT AFTER THREE WEEKS OF SEARCHING� THEIR RELATIVES HAVEN'T BEEN FOUND.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Wen Wansheng, father of missing passenger

"We feel like we are fooled by all these lies all these days."

BUT OFFICIALS INSIST PROGRESS IS BEING MADE.

A NEW ANALYSIS OF RADAR DATA SHOWS THE PLANE DID NOT FLY AS FAR AS PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT.

WITH THE SEARCH AREA NOW SHIFTED BY 700 MILES.. FIVE MILITARY AIRCRAFT HAVE REPORTED SPOTTING DEBRIS OFF THE COAST OF AUSTRALIA.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Flight Lieutenant Josh Williams, Royal Australian Air Force

"If we can determine that these objects that we've found are in fact wreckage or debris, that will provide key information to come up with the datum of where the aircraft has possibly gone down."

THE NEW SEARCH ZONE IS CLOSER TO THE COAST -- EXPERTS SAY THAT HELPS THE ODDS OF A RECOVERY.

WITH LESS FUEL NEEDED TO GET BACK TO LAND.. SEARCH PLANES CAN STAY OUT AT SEA LONGER.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Morris, Aviation Lawyer and former Boeing Pilot

"And in addition, the location that's been indicated is in a better weather zone, so they can spend more time, in better weather, searching for the wreckage."

IMAGES TAKEN OF THE DEBRIS HAVE BEEN SENT TO A LAB ON THE MAINLAND FOR ANALYSIS --

WITH THE HOPE OF PROVIDING CLUES ABOUT WHERE SOME 239 PASSENGERS VANISHED.

ROBERT BUMSTED.. ASSOCIATED PRESS.

AP TELEVISION

Beijing - March 28, 2014

1. Wide of official briefing, family members of missing passengers getting up to leave

2. Wide of family members of passengers leaving building

3. Medium of family members leaving building

POOL

Over Indian Ocean - March 28, 2014

4. Wide of flight crew looking at ocean

AP TELEVISION

Beijing - March 28, 2014

5. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Wen Wansheng, father of missing passenger (transcript below)

6. Wide of briefing room

POOL

Over Indian Ocean - March 28, 2014

7. Wide of ocean from search plane

8. Medium of instrtument screen on search plane

9. Meidum shot of search map

10. Medium of airman looking out of plane

11. Wide of airmen at their control stations.

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Flight Lieutenant Josh Williams, Royal Australian Air Force (transcript below)

13. Wide of williams in cockpit, panning across cockpit

AP TELEVISION

Perth, Australia - March 28, 2014

14. Wide of military aircraft on runway

15. Medium of Royal Australian Air Force plane on runway

AP TELEVISION

London - March 28, 2014

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Morris, Aviation Lawyer and former Boeing Pilot (transcript below)

POOL

Over Indian Ocean - March 28, 2014

17. Wide of airmen in plane

AP TELEVISION

Perth, Australia - March 28, 2014

18. Wide of military cargo aircraft with rear door open

19. Medium of airmen walking out of military cargo aircraft

POOL

Over Indian Ocean - March 28, 2014

20. Wide looking outside search plane

21. Medium of airmen looking out of search plane from cockpit

VOICE-OVER SCRIPT:

FAMILY MEMBERS OF THE VICTIMS OF MALAYSIA FLIGHT 3-70 STORMED OUT OF A BRIEFING FRIDAY --

FRUSTRATED THAT AFTER THREE WEEKS OF SEARCHING� THEIR RELATIVES HAVEN'T BEEN FOUND.

SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Wen Wansheng, father of missing passenger

"We feel like we are fooled by all these lies all these days."

BUT OFFICIALS INSIST PROGRESS IS BEING MADE.

A NEW ANALYSIS OF RADAR DATA SHOWS THE PLANE DID NOT FLY AS FAR AS PREVIOUSLY THOUGHT.

WITH THE SEARCH AREA NOW SHIFTED BY 700 MILES.. FIVE MILITARY AIRCRAFT HAVE REPORTED SPOTTING DEBRIS OFF THE COAST OF AUSTRALIA.

SOUNDBITE: (English) Flight Lieutenant Josh Williams, Royal Australian Air Force

"If we can determine that these objects that we've found are in fact wreckage or debris, that will provide key information to come up with the datum of where the aircraft has possibly gone down."

THE NEW SEARCH ZONE IS CLOSER TO THE COAST -- EXPERTS SAY THAT HELPS THE ODDS OF A RECOVERY.

WITH LESS FUEL NEEDED TO GET BACK TO LAND.. SEARCH PLANES CAN STAY OUT AT SEA LONGER.

SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Morris, Aviation Lawyer and former Boeing Pilot

"And in addition, the location that's been indicated is in a better weather zone, so they can spend more time, in better weather, searching for the wreckage."

IMAGES TAKEN OF THE DEBRIS HAVE BEEN SENT TO A LAB ON THE MAINLAND FOR ANALYSIS --

WITH THE HOPE OF PROVIDING CLUES ABOUT WHERE SOME 239 PASSENGERS VANISHED.

ROBERT BUMSTED.. ASSOCIATED PRESS.

AP TELEVISION

Beijing - March 28, 2014

1. Wide of official briefing, family members of missing passengers getting up to leave

2. Wide of family members of passengers leaving building

3. Medium of family members leaving building

POOL

Over Indian Ocean - March 28, 2014

4. Wide of flight crew looking at ocean

AP TELEVISION

Beijing - March 28, 2014

5. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Wen Wansheng, father of missing passenger (transcript below)

6. Wide of briefing room

POOL

Over Indian Ocean - March 28, 2014

7. Wide of ocean from search plane

8. Medium of instrtument screen on search plane

9. Meidum shot of search map

10. Medium of airman looking out of plane

11. Wide of airmen at their control stations.

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Flight Lieutenant Josh Williams, Royal Australian Air Force (transcript below)

13. Wide of williams in cockpit, panning across cockpit

AP TELEVISION

Perth, Australia - March 28, 2014

14. Wide of military aircraft on runway

15. Medium of Royal Australian Air Force plane on runway

AP TELEVISION

London - March 28, 2014

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Morris, Aviation Lawyer and former Boeing Pilot (transcript below)

POOL

Over Indian Ocean - March 28, 2014

17. Wide of airmen in plane

AP TELEVISION

Perth, Australia - March 28, 2014

18. Wide of military cargo aircraft with rear door open

19. Medium of airmen walking out of military cargo aircraft

POOL

Over Indian Ocean - March 28, 2014

20. Wide looking outside search plane

21. Medium of airmen looking out of search plane from cockpit

Families of Chinese passengers who were aboard the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 reacted with anger on Thursday when Malaysia's Civil Aviation authorities officially declared that their relatives were presumed to have died in the March 8th accident last year.

Relatives gathered at the Malaysian embassy in Beijing as Malaysia civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman made a televised statement in Kuala Lumpur.

He said that the search for the jet which disappeared on the way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, "remains a priority," but that all 239 passengers and crew on board are presumed to have lost heir lives.

The declaration fulfils a legal obligation that will allow efforts to proceed with compensation claims.

But it was still shocking news for the families whose protest was faced with heavy security blocking access to Malaysia's embassy in the Chinese capital.

Relatives said that, having heard rumours of an upcoming announcement, they were trying to prevent what they considered an irresponsible statement at a time when efforts should still be focusing on the search and rescue operation.

Jiang Hui, whose mother was travelling on the plane and has become a spokesman for the group of Chinese relatives, carried a sign with the photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping, who recently said in his New Year speech on January the 1st that the government would continue contributing to the search for the plane.

Azharuddin, Malaysia's civil aviation chief, said that his country, China and Australia had spared no expense and resources in their search for the plane, presumed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean off the coast of western Australia.

AP TELEVISION

Beijing - 29 January 2015

1. Various of relatives of MH370 flight passengers holding protest at Malaysian Embassy

2. Malaysian flag flying at embassy

3. Plainclothes police attempting to remove protesters

4. Police trying to clear protesters

5. Man holding up poster UPSOUND: (Mandarin) "My son! My son!"

6. Mid of policeman

7. Wide of protest and embassy

8. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Mr. Li (first name not given), son was on board MH370:

"How can we celebrate our New Year (Chinese New Year on February 19th), it is so difficult without our relatives."

9. Tilt up from photo of Mr. Li's son to mid of Mr. Li holding sign reading (Mandarin): "Malaysia Airlines give back my loved one."

10. Police guarding protest

11. Photo of Chinese President Xi Jinping on a poster

12. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Mr. Tian (first name not given), sister was on board MH370:

"Our president Xi Jinping said on his New Year speech (January 1st) that he was going to do everything possible to help us find our relatives, to find our dear ones."

13. Relatives walking away

14. Various of relatives getting on to bus

15. Jiang Hui, spokesman for the Chinese relatives of MH370 passengers, whose mother was aboard flight MH370

16. Pan up of poster reading (English) "we didn't forget them, we must make continuous efforts, try to find them" to face of Xi

17. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Jiang Hui, spokesman for the Chinese relatives of MH370 passengers:

"He (Xi) said that they would step up the efforts to find them. When we heard that, we felt very happy. But today, 29 days after this speech, the Malaysian side says that they are going to announce that our relatives suffered an accident, that they went missing. I strongly disagree. I believe that the Chinese government won't allow them to get away with it. So I believe what President Xi said to us."

18. Bus with relatives onboard driving away

Malaysia's government on Sunday asked for help from nearly a dozen Asian countries that the missing jetliner may have flown over, saying that finding the plane would be very difficult without additional data on its final movements.

The number of countries involved in the search and rescue operation has increased from 14 to 25, the Malaysian Acting Transport Minister told a news conference in Sepang, near Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday.

"Malaysian officials are requesting support from these countries as well as others. This support includes general satellite data, radar playback both primary and secondary, provisions for ground, sea and aerial search and assets as appropriate," said Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysian Acting Transport Minister during the news conference.

Meanwhile, police were examining a flight simulator belonging to one of the pilots of the Malaysia Airlines plane, which went missing more than a week ago with 239 passengers aboard a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

"We took position of a simulator (from one of the pilots' house), of a flight simulator and we dismantled it from the home and we assembled it at our office and we are getting experts to look at it now," said Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysia Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar, during the same news conference.

The search area has been expanded after satellite data has shown that after losing contact with air traffic controllers, the plane could have kept flying as far north as Kazakhstan in Central Asia or deep into the southern Indian Ocean, posing awesome challenges for efforts to recover the aircraft and flight data recorders

vital to solving the mystery of what happened on board.

Meanwhile, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport, people wrote tributes on a large banner expressing hope for a safe return home of the passengers of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

Confirmation Saturday that someone on board severed the communication links with the ground and flew off course for more than six hours has triggered a formal criminal investigation into who on the plane was involved, and what motive they might have for doing so.

Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possibilities, and to establish what happened with any degree of certainty investigators will likely need to examine information, including cockpit voice recordings, from the plane's flight data recorders should the jet be located.

Malaysian officials and aviation experts said that whoever disabled the plane's communication systems and then flew the jet must have had a high degree of technical knowledge and flying experience, putting one or both of the pilots high on the list of possible suspects.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of Malaysian Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein (centre), Malaysia Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar (right) and Chief Executive Officer of Malaysia Airlines Ahmad Jauhari Yahya (left) on podium for news conference

2. Close of Abu Bakar (right), Hishammuddin Hussein (centre) and Ahmad Jauhari Yahya (left) on podium

3. Wide of news conference with Ahmad Jauhari Yahya, Director General of the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation Azharuddin Abdul Rahman (second from left on screen), Hishammuddin Hussein and Abu Bakar

4. Wide of media

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysian Acting Transport Minister:

"Malaysian officials are requesting support from these countries as well as others. This support includes general satellite data, radar playback both primary and secondary, provisions for ground, sea and aerial search and assets as appropriate."

6. Wide pan right from media to speakers on podium

7. SOUNDBITE (English) Khalid Abu Bakar, Malaysia Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar:

"We took position of a simulator (from one of the pilots' house), of a flight simulator and we dismantled it from the home and we assembled it at our office and we are getting experts to look at it now."

8. Various of police officers guarding meeting room

9. Pull in of Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia Huang Huikang (black suit) entering meeting room

10. Mid of journalists trying to interview Huang

11. SOUNDBITE (English) Hermono (single name), Deputy Indonesian Ambassador to Malaysia:

"They (the Malaysian authorities) are asking for satellite data, radar playback, ground search, aerial search and also a kind of asset deployment and also permit. Permit in a sense that if the Malaysian government want to deploy its assets to the Indonesian territory, then we are asked to give permission."

12. Mid of Makio Miyagawa, Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia, talking to reporters

13. SOUNDBITE (English) Makio Miyagawa, Japanese Ambassador to Malaysia:

"We have not provided any satellite information yet, but I think this is one of the possibilities, we do have cooperate with Malaysians in the future, but it's up to the circumstances."

14. Various of people writing messages on large banner at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang

15. Close of message on banner

16. SOUNDBITE (English) Giere Daviere, student:

"People all around the world are hoping that the flight MH370 will came home fast, as soon as possible. The families are all waiting, we are all waiting, so in support for their arrival, I signed the banner."

17. Pull focus of banner reading (English): "Hope MH370" with messages from people written on it

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Friday expressed his "sincere appreciation" to Vietnam for their help in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Razak made the comment during an official visit to Hanoi to strengthen relations between the two countries.

Razak had an hour-long talk with Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on cooperating in various fields including trade, agriculture, energy and the military.

Meanwhile, the search continues for Flight MH370 after it vanished from radar on 8 March on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

Vietnam had conducted a week-long search and rescue mission for the plane in the South China Sea before data showed the Boeing jetliner 777 changed course and flew along a southern corridor in the Indian Ocean.

Razak is scheduled to meet Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong later on Friday.

He is expected to leave Vietnam on Saturday.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak (left) and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung walking onto dais

2. Mid of honour guard

3. Razak and Dung standing during national anthem

4. Wide of welcoming ceremony

5. Close of Vietnamese (left) and Malaysian flags

6. Wide of Razak and Dung walking off dais

7. Razak and Dung inspecting honour guard

8. Close of Vietnamese emblem

9. Wide of Razak and Dung inside government office building

10. Mid of Razak and Dung shaking hands

11. Wide of bust of late Vietnamese revolutionary leader Ho Chi Minh

12. Wide of meeting

13. Mid of Dung speaking

14. Close of Dung

15. Close of Razak

16. Pan of meeting

17. Wide of Razak and Dung arriving at news conference

18. Close of flags

19. SOUNDBITE (English) Najib Razak, Malaysian Prime Minister:

"I would like to place on record our sincere appreciation to the Vietnamese government for all the assistance rendered in the search for the missing aircraft MH370."

20. Razak and Dung shaking hands after news briefing

The international search for the missing Malaysian jetliner expanded further into the Indian Ocean on Friday, amid signs the aircraft may have flown on for hours after its last contact with air traffic control nearly a week ago.

The Malaysia Airlines plane reportedly sent signals to a satellite for four hours after the aircraft went missing early last Saturday, raising the possibility the jet carrying 239 people could have flown far from the current search areas.

The Boeing 777 jets are equipped with a monitoring system that "pings" - sends a signal to - a satellite on an hourly basis, even if the radar has been turned off.

The notion that the missing plane had flown on after losing radar contact also increased speculation that whatever happened to the plane was a deliberate act.

"Together with our international partners, we are now pushing further east into the South China Sea, and further into the Indian Ocean," Malaysia's Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference in Sepang.

Hussein said that "more detailed information" had been shared by investigating teams but that the information was yet to be verified.

"I hope within a couple of days that we can come to some conclusive position," he said.

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200 last communicated with air traffic base stations east of Malaysia in the South China Sea, which for several days was the main focus of the search.

Planes and ships also have been searching the Strait of Malacca west of Malaysia because a blip on military radar suggested the plane might have turned in that direction after the last confirmed contact.

If the plane flew another four hours, it could be much farther away.

In Beijing on Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that the search had been widened to the Strait of Malacca, west of Malaysia, following the new information.

Foreign Affairs spokesman Hong Lei also urged Malaysia's government to release any further information it has regarding the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner to help narrow the search area.

"China urges the Malaysian side to promptly and comprehensively report their information about the search to China," he told journalists at the regular MOFA news briefing.

In Hong Kong, an aviation expert said it was "technically" possible that the plane could have flown on for a few hours after radar contact was lost.

Albert Cheng, Chairman of Aircraft Division at The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, pointed out that radar communication itself could be turned off from the plane cockpit, but that the plane would still be transmitting information via the "monitoring system".

This information would not include locations, he said, but added that communication experts could possibly trace such the signal.

AP TELEVISION

Sepang, Malaysia

1. Malaysia Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Hussein arriving at news conference

2. Wide of news conference

3. Cut away to cameramen

4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysian Transportation Minister

"Together with our international partners, we are now pushing further east into the South China Sea, and further into the Indian Ocean. We want nothing more than to find the plane as quickly as possible. But the circumstances have forced us to widen our search."

5. Wide of news conference

6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysian Transportation Minister

"The Malaysian investigating teams have shared more detailed information, as it becomes available, for verification. The international team are currently working on verifying that detailed information, but we have nothing to confirm at this moment."

7. Wide of media

8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysian Transportation Minister

"And this new information, or the availability of this information in our hands, we share to these experts are now being digested. I hope within a couple of days that they can come to some conclusive position."

9. Hussein exiting news conference

Beijing, China

10. Wide of Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Hong Lei entering room and zoom in to mid shot

11. Wide of reporters

12. SOUNDBITE: (Mandarin) Hong Lei, spokesman, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

"Starting yesterday, the Chinese Maritime Rescue Centre has urged the merchant ships of COSCO and CSCI (names of shipping companies) to change their routes towards the west, close to the rescue district made public by Malaysia, and to pay attention to suspicious floating material while passing the Strait of Malacca."

13. Mid of reporter

14. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Hong Lei, spokesman, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs:

"China urges the Malaysian side to promptly and comprehensively report their information about the search to China. It is not only conducive to China's rescue and search effort, but will also make the rescue operation for all parties far more effective and targeted."

Hong Kong

15. Wide of Albert Cheng, Chairman of Aircraft Division at The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, working at computer

16. Close of computer screen showing Malaysia Airline plane

17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Albert Cheng, Chairman of Aircraft Division at The Hong Kong Institution of Engineers:

"It is possible, technically, because when you talk about the aircraft went missing, that means it went missing on the radar system. The cockpit can turn off the radar, so that then they have ceased the contact between the air traffic control or the radar communication on the ground. So it is possible. It went missing on the radar but the airplane is still there physically. But, at the same time, the engine and the flight control system are actually still sending signals through satellite and radio frequency under our system called monitoring system."

18. Wide of Cheng speaking

Chinese relatives of passengers on Flight 370 demanded on Sunday that Malaysian authorities provide them with evidence that the Malaysian Airlines plane had crashed into the sea.

Tensions were running high at the Beijing hotel where Chinese relatives met with Malaysian government and airline representatives and demanded answers.

Meanwhile, the search for floating debris from the Malaysia Airlines jetliner was in high gear Sunday as nine aircraft, eight

ships and four helicopters combed an Indian Ocean search zone west of Australia more than three weeks after the Boeing 777 disappeared with 239 people on board.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced on March 24 that based on radar and satellite analysis the plane had crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean.

But no debris linked to the Flight MH370 has been found yet, following 22 days of an extensive, multinational search.

"What we want is evidence. We know there were signals being sent by at least four transmitters, even this they cannot provide as proof. On what grounds are they saying the plane went down to the sea?" asked Wen Wancheng, father of one of the passengers on board the plane.

The relatives also demanded that the airline set up meetings with representatives from Boeing, Rolls Royce and Inmarsat, saying the lack of information was troubling.

Roll-Royce built the plane's engines, and Inmarsat, a British satellite telecommunications company, provided the satellite data that was used to map the jet's final route.

The relatives were assured of their stay at the hotel in Beijing until the plane was found.

Malaysia Airlines also said it would fly family members to Perth, where the current search base is, but only after wreckage was confirmed to have been found.

Two-thirds of the passengers aboard the plane, which disappeared en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur, were Chinese.

China has urged Malaysia to be more open about the investigation, while Malaysian officials have defended their handling of the probe and the information they have provided to passengers' relatives.

AP TELEVISION

1. Wide of conference room, Malaysian officials sitting in front of large screen

2. Mid pan of Malaysian representatives at table

3. Mid reverse of relatives sitting in room

4. Wide of medical and psychological team seating at table

5. Wide of conference, title of presentation on screen in background reading (English): SAR Operation for MH370 30 March 2014."

6. Close of map showing search area in southern Indian Ocean

7. Mid of Malaysian representative speaking to crowd

8. Mid of police and security standing by door

9. Mid of relatives

10. Mid of Malaysian representatives, UPSOUND (English) Name not available, representative of Malaysian government delegation:

"There is no plan or whatsoever to ask the next-of-kin (of Flight MH370 passengers) to leave this place (hotel) before any finding has been made."

11. Mid of police standing by door

12. Wide of meeting

13. Zoom in to Malaysian delegation UPSOUND (Mandarin) Name not available, representative of relatives of missing passengers:

"Do you admit that there is no evidence to report that the plane has crashed or that it had exploded?"

14. Mid of relatives

15. Mid of Malaysian delegation UPSOUND (Mandarin) Name not available, representative of relatives of missing passengers:

"If the plane did not crash into the sea, and it did not explode in the air, can you tell us what might have happened?"

16. Mid of police

17. Mid of Malaysian official UPSOUND (English) Name not available, representative of Malaysian government delegation:

"I can't answer this question."

18. Mid of Malaysian Airlines staff member working with relatives during meeting

19. Close of board inside meeting room with messages written on it, one reading (Chinese): "Dad, please come home."

20. Close of message on board reading (Chinese): "Come back safe, we are waiting for you."

21. Pull out of to wide of Malaysian government delegation finishing meeting, people leaving

22. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin) Wen Wancheng, father of a missing passenger:

"They have not provided evidence that the plane went down in the sea. What we want is evidence. We know there were signals being sent by at least four transmitters, even this they cannot provide as proof. On what grounds are they saying the plane went down to the sea?"

23. Mid pan of Wen walking away

The International Civil Aviation Organisation on Friday announced it would send a team to Ukraine at the request of the Kiev government to assist in the official investigation into the crash of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.

Ukraine has called for an international probe, and the United States has offered to assist.

Access to the site in rebel-held lands between the villages of Rozsypne and Hrabove, about 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the Russian border, remained difficult and dangerous on Friday.

It was still uncertain whether the rebels would allow Ukrainian government officials to pass through their checkpoints.

And the first international monitors to arrive at the site on Friday found bodies strewn on the ground and restrictions from armed pro-Russia militiamen.

The jet was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on an established flight corridor over Ukraine when it came down on Thursday, killing all 298 people on board.

All sides in the conflict - the Ukraine government, the pro-Russia rebels and the Russian government - have denied shooting down the plane.

But the US said the plane was likely downed by a missile fired from an area in eastern Ukraine controlled by pro-Russian separatists.

The whereabouts of the plane's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder remained unknown on Friday.

The rebels gave conflicting reports about whether they had found them.

Russia's foreign minister said his country had no intention of acquiring them and that they should be given to international aviation organisations.

Near Hrabove

1. Teams departing to search site for remains of victims among wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17

2. Pro-Russian militiaman in military fatigues and other man examining site of crash

3. White flag positioned at location where human remains were found

4. Smouldering remains of plane fuselage, white flag in foreground

5. Wide of crash site, man in cherry picker (basket crane) in distance

6. Various close-ups of plane fuselage

5. Passengers' belongings near wreckage

Rozsypne

14. Body of victim covered with tarpaulin and branches in street

Five aircraft searching in a new location for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 spotted multiple objects at sea on Friday, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

The objects, which have yet to be verified, were spotted in a new search area in the Indian Ocean identified by AMSA.

The new area is 1,850 kilometres (1,150 miles) west of Perth, 1,100 kilometres (680 miles) to the northeast of the previous search zone.

Planes and ships had spent a week searching about 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth.

An aviation lawyer and former Boeing pilot told The Associated Press that the new search area was in "a better weather zone" as well as being closer to Australia, making it easier for planes and ships to search for possible debris.

POOL

At Sea, over Indian Ocean

1. Pan of crew in cockpit

2. Computer screen in cockpit

3. Flight Lieutenant Josh Williams pointing to maps of search area

4. View of ocean from plane window

5. Crew member looking out of window

7. Crew member operating camera on computer screen

8. Close of screen

9. Crew preparing locator equipment

10. Mid of crew member looking out of binoculars, pull out to crew members at computer screens

11. Various of crew members looking out window

12. SOUNDBITE: (English) Flight Lieutenant Josh Williams, Royal Australian Air Force:

"Really pleased with what we've come across today. Eleven objects in total is what we've come across; a varying range of shapes, sizes, objects that were sitting on the surface of the ocean, some just below."

13. Crew preparing to drop locator equipment

14. Tracking shot out of plane window showing marker

15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Flight Lieutenant Josh Williams, Royal Australian Air Force:

"We've got the operators down the back analysing the photos. We've taken hundreds of photos today, so they'll go through each one of those looking for objects of interest. From there we'll separate those photos and analyse them ourselves. Those photos will then be put on a disc and sent away upon landing for further analysis by imagery experts."

16. Crew member looking out of plane window

17. SOUNDBITE: (English) Flight Lieutenant Josh Williams, Royal Australian Air Force:

"If we can determine that these objects that we've found are in fact wreckage or debris, that will provide key information to come up with the datum of where the aircraft has possibly gone down."

18. Crew member looking out of window, zoom into locator markers in ocean

AP TELEVISION

London, United Kingdom

19. Aviation lawyer and former Boeing pilot Jim Morris working in his office

20. SOUNDBITE (English) Jim Morris, Aviation Lawyer and former Boeing Pilot:

"The fact that it's been shifted much further north greatly helps because it means that the distance from Australia to their search zone is shorter, which means that their transit is shorter, giving them more fuel to spend searching for wreckage, and in addition, the location that's been indicated is in a better weather zone, so they can spend more time, in better weather, searching for the wreckage."

Reporter: "What about the nature of the sea bed, how important is that?"

Morris: "Obviously the topography of the sea bed can make a great difference in being able to locate the aircraft wreckage and the black box. We don't know exactly what the topography is in that area, or in the area where the wreckage is ultimately, but if it is in shallower waters, that would obviously make its recovery much easier."

21. Wide of Morris at work

As the international effort to find a trace of the missing Malaysian jetliner continues, the ground crews at the Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce in Perth keep the high-profile operation going by working through the night.

After every flight, the planes need to be refuelled and run through a host of checks, including inspecting wings and topping up the oil.

The ground crews typically work on the tarmac through the night so the planes are ready to fly again by daylight.

In all, about 50 ground staff work on the Australian P-3 Orion planes involved in the search.

Crews from other countries involved in the search work on their own planes, which continue to scour the Indian Ocean for signs of debris from the Malaysia Airlines flight that went missing one month ago.

While the pilots at Pearce have been getting plenty of attention, including Australian Flight Lieutenant Russell Adams who quickly became a heartthrob for some in the mould of the movie "Top Gun," the ground staff here play an equally vital role.

"We might not get all the limelight," said Leading Aircraftman Andrew Smith, an aircraft technician, "but definitely the right people in the right places know and appreciate the work that we do."

Most of the work holds no glamour.

Getting rid of the salt spray that can rust a plane, for instance, is similar to washing a car.

It requires soap, water and brushes.

The only difference is that a crew of 20 needs five solid hours to fully clean a plane, a process they undertake every six weeks.

"For us maintainers, corrosion would be the biggest issue from flying low" Smith said.

The Australian crew, normally based in the city of Adelaide, don't have suitable hangars at Pearce.

That means all their maintenance is done on the tarmac and in any type of weather.

Two-thirds work nights, typically 7 p.m. until 7 a.m., while the lucky ones get to work day shifts.

Leading Aircraftman Jason Savage, an avionics technician, said the age of the planes means they need to keep a close eye on them.

The ground crew say they've been getting plenty of good wishes from acquaintances who, like them, hope the family and friends of those on the flight can get answers and find some closure.

"We may not be famous," said Savage, "but we certainly do get some good feedback."

POOL

Aboard Australian P3 Orion plane, over Indian Ocean - 29 March 2014

1. Pilot looking through binoculars from cabin

2. Crew in cockpit during search

3. View of Indian Ocean from window

AP TELEVISION

Perth, Australia - 29 March 2014

4. Australian P3 Orion aircraft taxiing after landing

5. Ground crew member navigating Orion

6. Mid of Orion taxiing

AP TELEVISION

Royal Australian Air Force Base Pearce, Perth, Australia - 6 April 2014

7. Andrew Smith, Leading Aircraftsman at the Royal Australian Air Force, checking Australian Orion propeller

8. Close of Smith's face while checking propeller

9. Smith checking propeller and rotating it

10. Various of Smith checking aircraft wiring

11. SOUNDBITE: (English) Andrew Smith, Leading Aircraftsman at the Royal Australian Air Force:

"Biggest thing with flying low is the corrosion. It won't put any more stress on our systems. The air crew would have to work a bit harder but as for us maintainers, with... corrosion would be the biggest issue from flying so low."

12. Smith chatting to his colleague Jason Savage

13. SOUNDBITE: (English) Andrew Smith, Leading Aircraftsman at the Royal Australian Air Force:

"We might not get all the limelight but definitely the right people in the right places know and appreciate the work that we do."

14. Various of hangar

15. SOUNDBITE: (English) Jason Savage, Leading Aircraftsman at the Royal Australian Air Force:

"We may not be famous but, yeah, we certainly get some good feedback through the Air Force with regards to the amount of effort worked. And, yeah, we're all keen for, for closure for family and friends of obviously the people missing."

16. Australian P3 Orion aircraft being checked

17. Wide frontal view of Orion

12 Muslim clerics left on Tuesday for the crash site of AirAsia Flight 8501 to pray for the 162 victims who died in the accident and for success in the search operation.

Bad weather has so far made it difficult to locate parts of the plane and recover the 125 bodies that are still missing.

Meanwhile at a news conference in Jakarta, the head of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency announced that the search area has been expanded as of Tuesday

Thanks to improved weather conditions and visibility in the Java Sea, divers were able to resume efforts to reach the wreckage of the plane.

On Monday, they were forced to return to their ships by strong currents and rough seas.

The debris found so far indicates the plane's fuselage broke into parts, officials said.

In Surabaya, where the ill-fated AirAsia flight departed on 28 December, a team of doctors from the United Arab Emirates and Malaysia arrived on Tuesday morning to help with the identification of the crash victims.

They joined Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) teams from Indonesia, Australia and Singapore, who have been working for the past few days.

So far, up to 13 of the 37 recovered bodies have been formally identified.

AP TELEVISION

Lanud Iskandar, Pangkalan Bun - 6 January 2015

1. Muslim clerics waiting to be sent to AirAsia crash site

2. Cutaway of media

3. Clerics heading to Indonesian army helicopter

4. Helicopter crew standing on tarmac

5. Clerics praying in front of helicopter

6. Various of National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) crew preparing

7. Clerics praying outside helicopter

8. Rescue crew preparing

9. Clerics praying

10. Ground crew walking away from helicopter

11. Helicopter about to take off

Jakarta - 6 January 2015

12. Various of Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency talking during press conference

13. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian) Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency ++INCLUDES A SHOT OF SOELISTYO SHOWING EXPANDED SEARCH AREA ON MAP WITH GREEN DOT++:

"Today, we expanded the search area in the priority areas. This is the second expansion of the search area."

14. Close of new expanded search area (marked by red lines)

15. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian) Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency:

"(The weather was pretty good) so that all underwater devices have started to be revealed in the search location priority. The divers have also dived lower in the search area."

16. Map on screen showing the whole search area

17. End of news conference

18. Sign on building reading (Indonesian): "National Search and Rescue Agency"

19. Exterior of building

Surabaya - 6 January 2015

20. Various of morning briefing by Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) teams in Surabaya

21. DVI team from Singapore (blue tops and Singaporean flag)

22. Close of flag on top

23. Officials speaking during briefing

24. DVI team from Australia

25. DVI team from Indonesia

26. SOUNDBITE (Indonesian) Budi Yono, head of Disaster Victim Identification team:

"Today we got extra help from Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates. The DVI teams from both countries have arrived and are ready to work while the DVI teams from Australia of four people and a team from Singapore of as many as ten people have been working for a few days now."

27. Various of DVI team from the UAE arriving

28. Cutaway of cameraman

29. Cold storage where the bodies are kept for identification

30. Media

31. Police and DVI team carrying body into ambulance

32. Police officers standing around

33. Ambulance leaving

Approximately 252,000 square kilometres of ocean were covered in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370 on Sunday, said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).

Nine planes and nine ships scanned the ocean for any sign of debris - representing the most intensive day's search in the operation so far.

The pilot of an Australian P3 Orion aircraft reported sighting some objects by his aircraft and called it "the most promising leads" in the search for the aircraft.

Speaking to reporters after landing, Flight Lieutenant Russell Adams said his crew saw at least four objects orange in colour and bigger than 2 metres (6.5 feet) in size.

But the objects cannot be verified until they have been recovered by the ships, the AMSA website stressed.

Objects recovered yesterday were described as fishing equipment and flotsam; no objects recovered have yet been verified as coming from MH370.

POOL

On board plane over the Indian Ocean

1. Officer on board plane, looking out of window at ocean

2. View of ocean from plane window

3. Reverse of cockpit with a view of the ocean

4. Officers onboard the plane at work

5. Close of monitor with ocean on screen

6. Officers onboard the plane watching screens

7. Close of radar screen

8. Officers working on computers

9. Officer loading global positioning system (GPS) buoy into dispenser

10. Officer loading GPS buoy

11. Reverse of pilot flying plane

12. Mid of Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) officer UPSOUND (English) "It's a standard fishing buoy-size object that we're looking for. White. Floating."

13. Officer looking out of window to the ocean

14. Reverse of pilot flying plane, view to ocean

15. Aerial view of GPS buoy in ocean

AP TELEVISION

Perth

16. Korean P3 Orion taxiing on the runway

17. Close of plane taxiing on runway

18. Air traffic control officer

19. Plane stationary on the runway

20. Officers disembarking from Korean plane

21. Korean soldiers waving, joining search party

++NIGHT SHOTS++

22. RAAF plane stationary on runway

23. Mid of officers working in cockpit

24. Air traffic control workers on the ground

25. RAAF officer Russell Adams, Flight Lieutenant and aircraft pilot approaching podium

26. SOUNDBITE: (English) Russell Adams, Flight Lieutenant and aircraft pilot:

"Of interest today we did encounter an area, within approximately five nautical miles, which included at least four orange coloured objects, greater than approximately two metres in size each. I must stress that we can't confirm the origin of these objects, however the details of these, in association with a GPS (global positioning system) buoy have been passed on to our rescue coordination centre. It's for the rescue coordination centre to analyse these and send vessels to investigate as they see appropriate. However for my crew and from our perspective, this was the most visibility we had of any objects in the water and gave us the most promising leads."

27. Mid of Adams addressing the media

SHOTLIST

Bantul, Indonesia

++DAY SHOTS++

1. Various of Taiwanese rescuer searching wreckage with rescue dog

2. Various rescuers on scene searching through wreckage

3. SOUNDBITE (English): Michael Chu, Leader of Taiwainese rescue team

"We came here to rescue after the earthquake in Indonesia. Bantul is a seriously damaged area so we have 20 percent of our rescue team and three doctors and two nurses. We come here for assisting these local people."

4. Doctors working inside field hospital

5. Close up of medicine

6. Mid of doctor working

7. Box full of medicine

8. Medical staff

9. Area set up as operating room

10. Equipment in operating room

11. Table with medical supplies

12. SOUNDBITE (Mandarin): Dr Hou Shi Ke, Coordinator of Chinese medical and rescue team:

"The most important thing is to start cleaning the injury then we will give them (injuried) anti-infection medicine. Because there are a lot of fractures, many people need antibiotics. Finally, we will calculate how much medicine will need to help the people."

Yogyakarta, Indonesia

++NIGHT SHOTS++

13. US hercules taxiing on tarmac

14. Indonesian airport workers on tarmac

15. Rear of plane with supplies being unloaded

16. Inside of plane showing cargo

17. Various of cargo being unloaded from plane

Bantul, Indonesia

++NIGHT SHOTS++

18. Various of wrecked houses

19. Man walking past wreckage

20. Various of children eating rice inside tent

21. Close up of candle

STORYLINE:

Hopes of finding more survivors in the rubble of Indonesia's devastating earthquake waned on Tuesday, as an emergency relief operation involving 22 countries picked up pace to help 200-thousand people left homeless.

Most of the survivors of Saturday's 6.3-magnitude quake that killed nearly 5,700 people, were living in improvised shacks close to their demolished homes or in shelters erected in rice fields.

Getting food and fresh water remained a pressing concern, and thousands of people have taken to begging for cash and supplies along roadways.

But the threat of a health crisis seemed to be easing, as medical aid began arriving and construction began on several military field hospitals.

On Tuesday, the Asian Development Bank announced a total of 60 (m) million US dollars in grants and low-interest loans to Indonesia for rebuilding costs in the earthquake zone.

A 44-member team of doctors, search and rescue workers and seismologists from China arrived with 5 tonnes of supplies including a field hospital, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

Dr Hou Shi Ke, coordinator of the Chinese medical and rescue team, said their first priority was to treat the injuries and then to assess how much medicine would be required.

Thailand said it would send 48 military medical personnel along with medicine and equipment.

Teams from Malaysia, Taiwan and other nations are already working in the area.

"We came here to rescue after the earthquake in Indonesia. Bantul is a seriously damaged area so we have 20 per cent of our rescue team and three doctors and two nurses. We come here to assist theses local people", Michael Chu, Leader of Taiwainese rescue team, said.

The airport in the historic city of Yogyakarta, the one closest to the area worst hit by Saturday's quake, reopened after cracks in the runway were repaired.

Two US Marines cargo planes were among the first aid flights to land.

About 20 US Marines arrived in Yogyakarta and unloaded heavy lifting machinery and a portable field hospital.

The quake pounded tens of thousands of homes into piles of bricks, tiles and wood in less than a minute, as many victims slept or were preparing breakfast.

The death toll from the government's Social Affairs Ministry on Tuesday stood at 5,698.

Ministry officials say the numbers keep rising.

As the international aid operation increased, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has temporarily moved his office to the region, vowed that the government would not tolerate any siphoning off of aid money.

Indonesia is one of the most graft-ridden countries in the world, and local government officials are considered especially prone to stealing state funds.

Some 22 countries have contributed or pledged assistance to the Southeast Asian country, the UN has said.

An emergency appeal by the global body is expected later this week.

Keyword-earthquake