PORT BLAIR, India, March 19 -- After the Malaysian Airlines jet MH370 went missing 12 days ago, the Indian islands of Andaman and Nicobar close to the Strait of Malaca once became the focus of global attention as the diverted plane was thought to have flown towards them after losing contact with the ground control.

Indian Navy and Coast Guard were mobilized at the request of Malaysia and the order of the Defense Ministry in Delhi to search for the missing plane by flying planes and sailing ships from bases at the quiet archipelago, geographically an extension of Sumatra of Indonesia.

Demands for news also increased rapidly from international and national media for the tropical isles, which look more like Southeast Asia than India in environment, plants, food, architecture, weather and to some extent life style.

"Andaman Chronicle", one of the two dailies published in Andamans, has felt a shortage of staff during the week-long search in and around the Andaman islands by the navy, air force and coast guard, as a flurry of contacts were made local civil and military offices on the search by only two of its two reporters.

"Search operation started not inside Andamans after the plane went missing but east to them near the Malaysian border by routine patrolling Indian coast guards. Days later, Malaysia made request to India to help search the plane, " said Denis Giles, the publisher and editor-in-chief of the daily.

"After the search covered the entire Andaman sea and near 500 isles here, the search was also concentrated on the western side in areas in Bay of Bengal, as was decided by and under instruction from Malaysia," he said during an interview at his small office here.

Asked whether he believed the missing plane could have flown over Andamans in the early morning of March 8, he said that as a local who is familiar with military and civilian aviation security installations, he does not believe such an eventuality.

"We have integrated system of air defense which involved military, para-miliary forces and civilians for years. This system could have detected a large plane entering the area," said Giles.

Boosted by demands of news, his private-run newspaper's circulation has increased to 1,500 and an email edition is also available besides a website. The bulk of the newspaper's subscribers are government offices.

The daily, together with another daily "Andaman Sheekha", had first hand news from the defense and civil officials of the islands on the search work. While the search for the missing plane, "Operation Searchlight", has been suspended for days, the chances for it to resume are small, he said.

"Now the focus has shifted from Andamans. We are working on other subjects like the election which will start next month," he added.