Australian officials say search for possible objects from missing plane ends for the day By Scott Mcdonald and Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press | Associated Press KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- 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 Australias southwestern coast, said John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authoritys emergency response division. This is a lead, its 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 area is about halfway between Australia and desolate islands off the Antarctic. The search will continue on Friday, it said. It earlier said the search had been hampered by low visibility caused by clouds and rain. 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 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 dont have — the location of MH370. Malaysian officials held a meeting Thursday night with the relatives in a hotel near Kuala Lumpur, but journalists were kept away. After the meeting, groups of people left looking distraught. Hamid Amran, who had a child on Flight 370, said questions asked at the meeting made it apparent that Malaysias military is incapable of protecting its own airspace. He said he believes that my child and all the other passengers are still alive. I will not give up hope. A man who would only give his surname, Lau, said he was there to support a Chinese couple who had lost their only son. It appears some families are slowing accepting the worst outcome, he said. A group of Malaysian government and airline officials also flew to Beijing on Thursday night to meet families there. 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). He said it may be difficult to spot the objects as they are relatively indistinct on the imagery ... but those who are experts indicate they are credible sightings. The indication to me is of objects that are a reasonable size and probably awash with water, moving up and down over the surface. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority released two images of the whitish objects. They were taken March 16, but Australian Air Commodore John McGarry said it took time to analyze them. The task of analyzing imagery is quite difficult, it requires drawing down frames and going through frame by frame, he said. An Australian C-130 Hercules plane dropped marker buoys in the area to aid in the search. But some analysts said the debris is most likely not pieces of Flight 370. The chances of it being debris from the airplane are probably small, and the chances of it being debris from other shipping are probably large, said Jason Middleton, an aviation professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney. The hunt for the Boeing 777 has been punctuated by several false leads since it disappeared above the Gulf of Thailand. 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. Hishammuddin made clear that although international search efforts are continuing both on land and in sea in the northern and southern hemispheres, the effort is mostly concentrated south of the equator over the vast Indian Ocean. Out of a total of 29 aircraft, 18 ships and six ship-borne helicopters deployed in the operation, only four aircraft are now scouring the north. Norwegian cargo vessel Hoegh St. Petersburg was rerouted and arrived at the area in the Indian Ocean where the possible wreckage was spotted. They (the ship) have been asked to continue the search tomorrow and they will continue tomorrow morning, Ingar Skiaker from Hoegh Autoliners told a news conference in Oslo. The Norwegian ship, which transports cars, was on its way from South Africa to Australia, he said. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said another commercial ship and an Australian navy vessel were also en route to the search area. 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. Malaysian authorities have said that files were deleted Feb. 3 from the home flight simulator of the missing planes pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, and Hishammuddin said he had no new information on efforts to recover those files. The FBI has joined forces with Malaysian authorities in analyzing deleted data on the simulator. 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. ___ Gelineau reported from Sydney, Australia. Associated Press writers Rod McGuirk and Todd Pitman in Kuala Lumpur, Nick Perry in Wellington, New Zealand, and Julia Gronnevet in Oslo, Norway, contributed to this report. Email ShareTweet Print EDITOR PICKS1 - 4 of 12 Budget 2014: Everything you need to know New £1 coin unveiled The worst budget-brand groceries to buy Loose Change: The facts about bankruptcy All CommentsMy Comments JOHNComment Guidelines Post 6 Comments Popular NowNewest Oldest Most Replied 0users liked this commentRate a Thumb UpRate a Thumb Down0users disliked this commentTony • 8 hours ago Report Abuse My theory is that the plane was hijacked either by passengers or crew for a terrorist cause, and was then stormed by some brave people on board who diverted a bigger disaster sending the plane to crash into the sea. Reply 2users liked this commentRate a Thumb UpRate a Thumb Down0users disliked this commentNagabhushan Lakhapatri • 4 hours ago Report Abuse Lets pray for those 239 passengers,should reunite with their family Reply 0users liked this commentRate a Thumb UpRate a Thumb Down0users disliked this commentNAHASHON • 6 hours ago Report Abuse zero in to this 2 objects, but possible that it might not be related cos expect lots of parts n items scattered everywhere around certain radius.Now if not in sea,land or sky then where is it???. Reply 1users liked this commentRate a Thumb UpRate a Thumb Down0users disliked this commentBB See • 11 hours ago Report Abuse Lets pray this is the object and end the drain. 24M object is substantial in size. Reply 0users liked this commentRate a Thumb UpRate a Thumb Down0users disliked this commentAjay.G • 4 hours ago Report Abuse wherever searching place getting doubt pls refer to local bodys llike local people will chat we get the idea to know ? my doubt some terrorist may taken plane again they repainted and even they changed electronically ? those boeing i hope they are safe ? may terrorist want some time to show they... More Reply 0users liked this commentRate a Thumb UpRate a Thumb Down0users disliked this commentIqmal • 3 hours ago Report Abuse The whole world is eargerly and anxiously awaiting on the outcome of this Lead .... Reply Post a comment
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 16:31:47 +0000
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