Chinese team has scoured more than 200,000 sq km of Indian Ocean

The challenges faced by Chinese personnel involved in the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 are "unprecedented", said national maritime search and rescue center deputy director Zhuo Li on Thursday.

Chinese operations in the multinational effort have covered more than 200,000 square kilometers in the area 1,850 km west of Perth, Australia. The area covered in the remote southern Indian Ocean is about one-third the size of China, Zhuo said.