PHU QUOC ISLAND, Vietnam, March 11 -- The chances of locating the missing Malaysia Airlines passenger plane are remote, but Vietnam is to further extend the search area in cooperation with other involved countries, the chief coordinator of Vietnam's search and rescue mission said Tuesday.

Although the chances are remote, Vietnam will not give up until the Boeing 777 aircraft, which suddenly vanished from radar early Saturday morning while carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, is located, added Pham Quy Tieu, who is also deputy transport minister.

Dozens of ships and planes from about 10 countries are scouring the waters around Flight MH370's last known location, but no solid clues have been found so far.