Australia spots ‘credible’ evidence of missing MH 370 SYDNEY, MAR 20 (AGENCIES): Australian authorities said Thursday they had found “credible” evidence in satellite imagery of what may be debris from the Malaysia Airlines plane that has been missing for almost two weeks. The debris was spotted in the Indian Ocean near Australia, and while authorities cautioned it could turn out to be another dead end, it was called the “best lead” yet in what has mushroomed into a massive international search for a 777 that vanished with 239 people aboard. Australian aircraft arrived in the area about 1,500 miles southwest of the country but were unable to immediately find the objects spotted by satellite because “cloud & rain limited visibility,” the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said. As night fell in the Indian Ocean, Australian officials said they were calling off their search for the day and would resume on Friday morning. Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Parliament on earlier Thursday that the evidence was “credible,” while also cautioning that “it may turn out that they are not related to the search.” Australia spotted two objects, one of which is 24 m (or about 78 ft) long. The objects appeared to be “awash with water and bobbing up and down,” John Young, the general manager of the AMSA. He called theobjects “relatively indistinct on the imagery,” but said they are “credible sightings” and “probably the best lead with have right now.” “The task of analyzing imagery is quite difficult, it requires drawing down frames and going through frame by frame,” said Australian Air Commodore John McGarry. “The moment this imagery was discovered to reveal a possible object that might indicate a debris field, we have passed the information from defense across to AMSA for their action.” The task of locating the objects will be extremely difficult. Aside from poor visibility, the area is so remote that each aircraft will only have about two hours after arrival to scour the area. If found, marker buoys will be dropped to allow drift modeling and an ongoing reference point to follow. Meanwhile, a Norwegian car carrier, Hoegh St. Petersburg has reached the area in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia where two floating objects, suspected to be debris from the missing Malaysian jetliner, were spotted, the ship owner’s said on Thursday. Höegh Autoliners, the vessel owner and the Norwegian Shipowners Association held a press conference this afternoon in Oslo to confirm the Norwegian ship was already in the area Thursday morning, 2600 km offshore the Australian city of Perth. The ship was asked to go to a specified area of 100km, where the ship is based since 09h00. But the satellite sighting was reported some 1,429 miles southwest of Perth, and the objects may have drifted further. The area is known for debris from shipping and officials have cautioned against jumping to conclusions. Items spotted floating in the Gulf of Thailand last week proved to be erroneous. “If they have a strong feeling or indication that the debris belongs to the aircraft, one of the first things authorities will do is drop sonar buoys in the water,” he said. “If the black box is there, the buoys should be able to pick up the signals.” Thursday marks 12 days since the twin-engine, 200-ton aircraft disappeared, but the black box flight recorder will only emit a signal for 30 days before its battery dies. The southern Indian Ocean is one of the deepest in the world. Some believe the water could even present more challenges than the 12,000-ft stretch of the Atlantic where Air France Flight 447 crashed in June 2009. It took two years to find the flight recorder for that plane. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein also urged caution.” We have been very consistent. We want to verify, we want to corroborate,” he told reporters. China’s Foreign Ministry urged Australia in statement Thursday to report back findings as soon as possible. Of the 239 people on board, 153 were Chinese nationals.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 00:31:48 +0000
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