An oceanographic survey ship belonging to the U.S. government is due to enter Indonesian territories Tuesday to join the search for a missing passenger plane that carried 102 people.

The USNS Mary Sears is scheduled to reach the waters of West Sulawesi province later in the day and its immediate task is to help the navy identify an undersea metal object suspected as the wreckage of the missing Boeing 737-400, reported leading news website Detikcom.

Three U.S. citizens, wood furniture businessman Scott Jackson and his daughters Stephanie and Lindsay, were among the passengers of the Jakarta-based Adam Air's plane that went missing on Jan. 1 on the way to North Sulawesi.

Source: Xinhua