Chinese vessels sailing toward new search areas as a multinational search mission for the missing Malaysian Airlines passenger jet enters its 12th day.
Nine vessels will leave from Singapore to waters southeast of the Bay of Bengal and west of Indonesia.
Lin Pu is the commander of the Chinese Emergency Response Team.
"The depth could reach beyond 3000 metres, and the waves will be huge in the Indian Ocean, meaning the search there will be much more difficult than in the Gulf of Thailand."
Earlier, China started searching its own territory for the missing plane.
Search aircraft and ships from 26 countries are scouring two giant arcs of territory amounting to roughly the size of Australia.
Meanwhile, Maldives authorities say none of the country's military radar has detected a trace of the missing plane.
The announcement comes after reports that residents on a remote island saw a low flying jumbo jet on the morning the plane disappeared.
Malaysia says the plane, which was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, was intentionally diverted.
Police and intelligence agencies have yet to establish a clear motive to explain the plane's disappearance.
For more on the latest information, we earlier spoke with Nadiah Abdul Aziz, a journalist based in Kuala Lumpur.
