MAKASSAR, Indonesia - Two Indonesian Air Force helicopters will join the search to locate a missing airliner a week after it vanished in bad weather with 102 aboard, a military spokesman said on Monday.
The hunt was focussed on the Bone Strait between the two southern arms of Sulawesi island and the onshore areas of western Sulawesi, Captain Mulyadi said in Makassar, the island's largest city, from where search efforts are being coordinated.
The USNS Mary Sears, a U.S. ship with sonar capability and the ability to detect metal underwater, will arrive on Tuesday to join the search, which already included at least four ships, two Indonesian air force planes, two helicopters, and thousands of troops and police on the ground.
The hunt for the 17-year-old Boeing 737-400 operated by Indonesian budget airline Adam Air has been hampered by rain, clouds and wind, with the area's jungle-covered mountains also making it difficult to spot things from the air.
The region lacks roads and communications are often poor.
Over the weekend, passengers' relatives waiting in Makassar for news confronted Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla and called for more to be done
