Air search for objects in Indian Ocean ‘best lead’ in hunt for missing Malaysian plane
Austrialia is checking on two objects in the ocean to see if they may be related to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.
March 20, 2014 - 2:02 pm
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In this March 16 satellite imagery provided by Commonwealth of Australia - Department of Defence on Thursday, a floating object is seen at sea next to the descriptor, which was added by the source. Australia's government reported Thursday that the images show suspected debris possibly from the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner floating in an area 1,550 miles southwest of Perth, Australia. (AP Photo/Commonwealth of Australia - Department of Defence)
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This graphic shows an area in the southern Indian Ocean that the Australian Maritime Safety Authority is concentrating its search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. AMSA response division manager John Young has identified their search will cover 232,000 square miles, saying it will take weeks to search thoroughly. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot said Thursday that two objects possibly related to the missing Malaysia Airlines flight have been spotted on satellite imagery in the Indian Ocean and an air force aircraft was diverted to the area to try to locate them. (AP Photo/Australian Maritime Safety Authority)
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Malaysian acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein speaks during a press conference at a hotel in Sepang, Malaysia on Thursday. Military search planes flew over a remote part of the Indian Ocean on Thursday hunting for debris in probably the best lead so far in finding the missing Malaysia Airlines flight, officials said. (AP Photo)
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Royal Australian Air Force Airborne Electronics Analyst, Flight Sgt. Tom Stewart from 10 Squadron, on board an AP-3C Orion watches a radar screen over the Southern Indian Ocean off the Western Australian coast during a search operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on Wednesday. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Thursday that two objects possibly related to the missing flight have been spotted on satellite imagery in the Indian Ocean and an air force aircraft was diverted to the area to try to locate them. (AP Photo/Australia Defence Department, Hamish Paterson)
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Royal Australian Air Force Flight Engineer, Warrant Officer Ron Day from 10 Squadron, is on board an AP-3C Orion over the Southern Indian Ocean off the Western Australian coast during a search operation for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 on Wednesday. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Thursday that two objects possibly related to the missing flight have been spotted on satellite imagery in the Indian Ocean and an air force aircraft was diverted to the area to try to locate them. (AP Photo/Australia Defence Department, Hamish Paterson)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — An air search in the southern Indian Ocean for possible objects from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane described as the “best lead” so far ended for the day without success Thursday but will resume in the morning, Australian rescue officials said.
The four planes were checking to see if two large objects spotted in satellite imagery bobbing in the remote ocean were debris from Fight 370 that disappeared March 8 with 239 people on board.
One of the objects was 24 meters (almost 80 feet) in length and the other was 5 meters (15 feet). There could be other objects in the area, a four-hour flight from Australia’s southwestern coast, said John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s emergency response division.
“This is a lead, it’s probably the best lead we have right now,” Young said. He cautioned that the objects could be seaborne debris along a shipping route where containers can fall off cargo vessels, although the larger object is longer than a container.
A statement from the authority said the four planes searched an area of 23,000 square kilometers (8,800 square miles) about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth on Thursday without success.
“The search will continue on Friday,” it said.
News that possible plane parts had been found marked a new phase in the emotional roller coaster for distraught relatives of the passengers, who have criticized Malaysia harshly for not releasing timely information about the plane. While they still hope their loved ones will somehow be found, they acknowledged that news of the possible debris could mean the plane plunged into the ocean.
“If it turns out that it is truly MH370 then we will accept that fate,” said Selamat Bin Omar, the father of a Malaysian passenger on the jet, which carried mostly Chinese and Malaysian nationals.
But he cautioned that relatives still “do not yet know for sure whether this is indeed MH370 or something else. Therefore we are still waiting for further notice from the Australian government.”
Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference Thursday that “for all the families around the world, the one piece of information that they want most is the information we just don’t have — the location of MH370.”
Young said the depth of the ocean in the latest area, which is south from where the search had been focused since Monday, is several thousand meters (yards).
The area where the debris was spotted is about halfway between Australia and desolate islands off the Antarctic.
Flight 370 disappeared on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation, but have said the evidence so far suggests the plane was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.
Police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board.
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Gelineau reported from Sydney, Australia. Associated Press writers Rod McGuirk and Todd Pitman in Kuala Lumpur, Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand, and Jan M. Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report.
Satellites searching for missing plane have limits
The satellites searching vast stretches of ocean for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane are not the stuff of Hollywood.They can scan large areas for relatively small objects, but they have limitations.
That’s why experts say images taken by a private-sector satellite company and released by the Australian government provide a clue that needs investigating, but they aren’t conclusive evidence that the objects in the images are from the missing Boeing 777.
Associated Press