Two South Korean military aircraft left for Malaysia Saturday to assist with ongoing international search efforts for a missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet, military sources said.

The P-3C Orion patrol aircraft and C-130 military transport airplane will arrive in Kuala Lumpur at 7:00 p.m., Seoul time.

They will lend support in searching for the Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 that disappeared somewhere over waters between Malaysia and Vietnam last week.

The plane disappeared less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing, with 239 people from at least a dozen countries, including China, the U.S. and Indonesia, on board.

The international hunt initially focused on the South China Sea, east of Malaysia, along the plane's intended route. Navies and military aircraft of a dozen countries across Southeast Asia have expanded their search westward toward India to find clues about the missing airline.

(Yonhap)