SINGAPORE — The fourth Navy vessel on standby for deployment in the AirAsia search operations departed Singapore this evening (Dec 30), as day three of the search turned up debris from the plane as well as bodies.

The MV Swift Rescue – which was also deployed in the search for MH370 earlier this year — is a Submarine Support and Rescue Vessel and is equipped to perform underwater searches and can assist in the recovery effort.

To help identify victims, Singapore has also offered to the Indonesian authorities a disaster victim identification team comprising officers from the Singapore Police Force and the Health Sciences Authority.

Meanwhile, the three Republic of Singapore Navy ships deployed earlier - a frigate, corvette and a Landing Ship Tank (LST) - have been asked to proceed towards the area where bodies and debris were found, said Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen in an update on Facebook yesterday evening.

Departing tomorrow for the search area today are specialists from Ministry of Transport’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau, along with two sets of underwater locator beacon detectors. Joining them are hydrography experts from the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore and their additional equipment.

Today, the two C-130 aircraft deployed by Singapore flew two sorties, while two Super Puma helicopters were despatched together with the LST, the RSS Persistence.