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Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Australia checking two objects in search for plane Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Australia checking two objects in search for plane
(about 1 hour later)
Australia's prime minister says 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. Search and rescue teams are on their way to a remote location four hours from the Australian coast after a satellite spotted two objects that could possibly be linked to missing Flight MH370. One of the pieces of suspected debris could be as long as 24 metres.
The Orion aircraft was expected to arrive in the area Thursday afternoon, Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Parliament in Canberra. Three additional aircraft are expected to follow for a more intensive search, he said. “This is a lead. Probably the best lead we have right now,” said John Young, of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). “But we need to get there, find them, see them.”
Abbott called it "credible information," adding that after "specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified." He said this morning that a number of ships and planes had been sent to the location, one of which was due to arrive as he spoke. But he also warned that nothing could be assumed: the spot where the objects were spotted was located 1,600 miles south-west from city of Perth and that finding anything would be a major challenge. Poor weather was not helping the issue.
But Abbott cautioned that locating the objects could be extremely difficult and "it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370." And he reminded anyone desperate for a piece of information 14 days after the Malaysian Airlines plane and its 239 passengers and crew went missing, that the objects might not be related. “We have been in this business of doing search and rescue and using sat images before and they do not always turn out to be related to the search even if they look good, so we will hold our views on that until they are sited close-up,” he said.
He did not say where the objects were. Military planes from Australia, the U.S. and New Zealand were covering a search region over the southern Indian Ocean that was narrowed down on Wednesday from 600,000 square kilometers (232,000 square miles) to 305,000 square kilometers (117,000 square miles). The point was reinforced by Australia’s Prime Minister Tony Abbott, when he announced in parliament “new and credible” information had come to light.  A number of sightings of possible debris have perviously been investigated in the search for the plane but so far none of them have proved to be linked.
The hunt for the Boeing 777 has been punctuated by several false leads since it disappeared March 8 above the Gulf of Thailand. “The task to locate these objects will be extremely difficult and they may not turn out to be linked to the search for Flight 370,” said Mr Abbott, who later spoke with his Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak.
Oil slicks that were spotted did not contain jet fuel. A yellow object thought to be from the plane turned out to be a piece of sea trash. Chinese satellite images showed possible plane debris, but nothing was found. But this is the first time that possible objects have been spotted since the search area was massively expanded into two corridors, one stretching from northern Thailand into Central Asia and the other from the Strait of Malacca down to southern reaches of the Indian Ocean. Officials said the objects had been spotted on satellite imagery and that an assessment completed on Thursday by the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation suggested they could be pieces of debris. They were spotted in the area where Australians have been searching in the last two days.
Abbott said he spoke to the prime minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, about the latest developments. Australia's envoy to Malaysia, Rod Smith, joined a meeting of senior Malaysia search officials at a Kuala Lumpur hotel after Abbott's announcement. Smith did not respond to reporters' questions. In addition to the Australian assets being dispatched, officials said that planes from New Zealand and the US were on their way to the area.
A handout photo taken on 19 March 2014 shows Royal Australian Air Force Airborne Electronics Analyst Flight Sergeant Tom Stewart from 10 Squadron watching a radar screen for signs of debris on board an AP-3C Orion over the Southern Indian Ocean during the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 "As I've been doing from day one, I've followed every single lead. And this time, I hope it is a positive development," Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it lost contact with air traffic controllers. Twenty-six nations have been involved in a major search for the missing plane, which Malaysia says was intentionally diverted.
Nearly two weeks after the plane went missing, the FBI has joined forces with Malaysian authorities in analyzing deleted data on a flight simulator belonging to the pilot of the missing jet. Malaysia’s Transport Minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said in a statement that Mr Abbott had spoken with Mr Najib on Thursday morning and informed him about the objects that had been spotted. “At this stage, Australian officials have yet to establish whether these objects are indeed related to the search for MH370,” he said.
Files containing records of flight simulations were deleted Feb. 3 from the device found in the home of the pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu said. Officials in Australia said a number of aircraft had been sent to the location, four hours flying time from Perth. A Royal Australian Air Force Orion aircraft arrived in the area about 1.50pm local time.
It was not clear whether investigators thought that deleting the files was unusual. They might hold hints of unusual flight paths that could help explain where the missing plane went, or the files could have been deleted simply to clear memory for other material. Royal Australian Air Force Airborne Electronics Analyst Flight Sergeant Tom Stewart from 10 Squadron watching a radar screen for signs of debris on board an AP-3C Orion over the Southern Indian Ocean
Hishammuddin told a news conference Wednesday that Zaharie is considered innocent until proven guilty. He said members of the pilot's family are cooperating in the investigation. A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion, a US Navy P8 Poseidon aircraft and another Australian Orion were due to arrive later. A Hercules C130 had been dispatched to drop marker buoys to assist in drift modelling. “They will provide an ongoing reference point if the task of relocating the objects becomes protracted,” said a statement by the AMSA.
Zaharie was known to some within the online world of flight simulation enthusiasts. In the past two weeks, investigators in Malaysia, assisted by foreign intelligence agencies, have been scrutinising the backgrounds of both the crew and the passengers on the missing jet, but have so far identified no evidence of terror or other potentially relevant links.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation by name, said the FBI has been asked to analyze the deleted simulator files. Investigators had identified two corridors of territory - one to the north and one to the south - spanning the possible positions of the plane more than seven hours after it took off for Beijing. Earlier this week, Australia was asked by Malaysia to take responsibility for the “southern corridor” search.
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said in Washington that the FBI was working with Malaysian authorities. "At this point, I don't think we have any theories," he said. The plane lost contact with controllers over the South China Sea as it crossed from Malaysian to Vietnamese air space. Malaysian officials say it then turned west and its last position - according to Malaysian military radar - was over the Malacca Straits, in the opposite direction to its planned flight path.
Flight 370 disappeared March 8 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 flight was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next. The FBI has been called into assist in trying to recover data deleted from the flight simulator owned by the plane’s chief pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah.
Investigators have identified two giant arcs of territory spanning the possible positions of the plane about 7{ hours after takeoff, based on its last faint signal to a satellite — an hourly "handshake" signal that continues even when communications are switched off. The arcs stretch up as far as Kazakhstan in central Asia and down deep into the southern Indian Ocean. Mr Hishammuddin, the Transport Minister, said earlier this week that the the captain of the plane should be considered innocent until proved otherwise and said that members of his family were co-operating with the investigation.
Police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board, and have asked for background checks from abroad on all foreign passengers.
AP