Malaysian officials said they had expanded the search into the Andaman Sea, the part of the Indian Ocean northwest of the strait. The Pentagon said that the Kidd would be searching there, at the request of the Malaysian government, and that a P-3 surveillance plane had already flown over the area. Syed Akbaruddin, the spokesman for India’s Ministry of External Affairs, said that India had also sent three ships, two airplanes and a helicopter to search intensively in that area.