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| Australia Examines Material Washed Ashore for Link to Missing Jet | Australia Examines Material Washed Ashore for Link to Missing Jet |
| (about 2 hours later) | |
| SYDNEY, Australia — Investigators are examining whether material that washed ashore near the southern end of Western Australia might have a connection to the Malaysia Airlines aircraft that has been missing for a month and a half, Australian search organizers said on Wednesday. | SYDNEY, Australia — Investigators are examining whether material that washed ashore near the southern end of Western Australia might have a connection to the Malaysia Airlines aircraft that has been missing for a month and a half, Australian search organizers said on Wednesday. |
| Since the plane disappeared on March 8, the search for it has been punctuated by sightings of possible wreckage, only for each potential find to be disproved when the objects have been recovered. The brief announcement from the Australian agency overseeing the hunt in the southern Indian Ocean gave no clues about what the newest material was or why it had piqued investigators’ curiosity. | Since the plane disappeared on March 8, the search for it has been punctuated by sightings of possible wreckage, only for each potential find to be disproved when the objects have been recovered. The brief announcement from the Australian agency overseeing the hunt in the southern Indian Ocean gave no clues about what the newest material was or why it had piqued investigators’ curiosity. |
| The agency, called the Joint Agency Coordination Center, said in an email that the material had turned up 10 kilometers, or 6.2 miles, east of Augusta, a township in Western Australia. Searchers have been looking for traces of the plane in waters much farther northwest. | |
| The Australian Transport Safety Bureau was “examining photographs of the material to determine whether further physical analysis is required and if there is any relevance to the search of missing flight MH370,” the search center said. It added that it would release more information “if, and when, it becomes available.” | The Australian Transport Safety Bureau was “examining photographs of the material to determine whether further physical analysis is required and if there is any relevance to the search of missing flight MH370,” the search center said. It added that it would release more information “if, and when, it becomes available.” |
| Augusta is more than 1,100 miles from the patch of ocean where a Royal Australian Navy ship, the Ocean Shield, has been operating an unmanned submersible vehicle, the Bluefin-21, which is scanning the seafloor for signs of the missing plane, and in particular the two flight recorders that are crucial to determining why the plane apparently veered so drastically off course. | Augusta is more than 1,100 miles from the patch of ocean where a Royal Australian Navy ship, the Ocean Shield, has been operating an unmanned submersible vehicle, the Bluefin-21, which is scanning the seafloor for signs of the missing plane, and in particular the two flight recorders that are crucial to determining why the plane apparently veered so drastically off course. |
| The plane, a Boeing 777-200, took off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, en route to Beijing, but then veered off course and continued flying, according to radar data. | The plane, a Boeing 777-200, took off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, en route to Beijing, but then veered off course and continued flying, according to radar data. |
| Investigators have said the best lead to the plane’s whereabouts remain four sets of signals — believed to be from beacons attached to the flight recorders — picked up on April 5 and April 8 by the Ocean Shield using a towed pinger locator. But no debris linked to the missing flight has been found, and the Bluefin-21, which is close to completing the underwater search in a circle with a six-mile radius around one of the detected pings, has found no sign of the plane. | Investigators have said the best lead to the plane’s whereabouts remain four sets of signals — believed to be from beacons attached to the flight recorders — picked up on April 5 and April 8 by the Ocean Shield using a towed pinger locator. But no debris linked to the missing flight has been found, and the Bluefin-21, which is close to completing the underwater search in a circle with a six-mile radius around one of the detected pings, has found no sign of the plane. |
| At a news conference in Canberra, the Australian capital, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he remained confident that the plane’s wreckage was somewhere in the area identified by searchers, and he said the hunt there would continue. | At a news conference in Canberra, the Australian capital, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he remained confident that the plane’s wreckage was somewhere in the area identified by searchers, and he said the hunt there would continue. |
| “The point I make is that Australia will not rest until we have done everything we humanly can to get to the bottom of this mystery,” he said. | “The point I make is that Australia will not rest until we have done everything we humanly can to get to the bottom of this mystery,” he said. |
| “We are not going to let down the families of the 239 people who were on that plane by lightly surrendering while there is reasonable hope of finding something,” Mr. Abbott said. “If, at the end of that period, we find nothing, we are not going to abandon the search; we may well rethink the search, but we will not rest until we have done everything we can to solve this mystery.” | “We are not going to let down the families of the 239 people who were on that plane by lightly surrendering while there is reasonable hope of finding something,” Mr. Abbott said. “If, at the end of that period, we find nothing, we are not going to abandon the search; we may well rethink the search, but we will not rest until we have done everything we can to solve this mystery.” |