Friday, March 28, 2014

Flight MH370: 'Objects spotted' in new search area

Five planes have spotted "objects" in the new area of the Indian Ocean being searched for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Australian officials say.
The sightings would need confirmation by ship, possibly on Saturday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said in a statement.
Earlier it was announced the search would now focus on an area 1,100km (700 miles) north-east of the previous zone.
The Beijing-bound airliner disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion first spotted "a number of objects white or light in colour and a fishing buoy", Amsa said.
Did previous photos show plane debris?
  • Satellite images so far could show anything from lost shipping containers or drifting garbage to fragments of Flight MH370
  • Among ocean experts, opinion differs over how much non-plane debris is in the area
  • Southern Indian Ocean is one of world's least researched areas
  • In absence of better data, retrieving floating debris can help narrow search for "black box" recorders
  • But shortage of live satellite data, turbulence and passage of time since flight's disappearance hamper search for debris
An Australian plane then went to relocate the items and spotted "two blue/grey rectangular objects", and three other planes reported similar sightings.
The Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 is in the search area and will be despatched to relocate the objects on Saturday, Amsa said.
Earlier, the Australian and Malaysian governments said the focus on the new search area was based on further analysis of radar data that showed the plane had been travelling faster, thus burning more fuel.
Search efforts had until Friday morning focused on an area some 2,500km (1,550 miles) to the south-west of the Australian city of Perth.
An image of one of the objects spotted by a New Zealand plane on Friday

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