PERTH: The protracted search for missing Flight MH370 was boosted Wednesday with the arrival of a British nuclear submarine in the Indian Ocean, ahead of a visit to Australia by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak.
The personal jet of Oscar-winning New Zealand movie director Peter Jackson is also now reportedly being used in the multinational hunt for the plane that vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board.
Despite extensive scouring of remote Indian Ocean waters by planes and ships southwest of Perth where Malaysia believes the jet went down, nothing has been found so far that would indicate a crash site.
"No significant developments to report," the Australian Maritime Safety Authority tweeted after 10 planes returned from flying sorties on Tuesday evening in a now familiar update on drawing a blank.
Ten planes and nine ships resumed the hunt Wednesday although authorities warned broken cloud, sea fog and isolated thunderstorms would reduce visibility.
But in a boost to the search effort, Britain's Royal Navy said the first submarine in the operation -- HMS Tireless -- has arrived in the area and "with her advanced underwater search capability will be able to contribute to the attempts to locate the missing plane".
Britain's HMS Echo is also due in the search zone shortly to assist Australia's Ocean Shield naval vessel, which is fitted with a US-supplied "black box" detector and is expected to arrive on Friday.
Jackson, the director of the "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" movies, has personally approved the use of his Gulfstream G650 in the search, Radio New Zealand said.
His spokesman reportedly said the company which operates the long-range aircraft had chartered it to Australian authorities.
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