BREAKING NEWS: China says it has located a large 72ft object in the Indian Ocean on day three of the search for missing MH370... as a cyclone is forecast to hit Australian PM says search will continue until they are satisfied it is futile It is now two weeks since the Malaysia Airlines flight vanished without trace By Candace Sutton and Daily Mail Reporter PUBLISHED: 09:02 GMT, 22 March 2014 | UPDATED: 10:55 GMT, 22 March 2014 A large piece of floating debris has been spotted in the remote Indian Ocean search zone for missing flight MH370, it was revealed today. Chinese satellites picked up signs of an unknown object measuring 72ft wide by 42ft wide in an area 75 miles west of where Australia reported an earlier sighting of floating debris. The images were taken at lunchtime on March 18, Chinese state media reported, just two days after the sighting by Australian satellites singled out the area in the southern Indian Ocean. In the area where the possible objects were identified there are strong currents and rough seas. A cyclone warning has been issued for tropical cyclone Gillian, there are rough seas and strong currents expected. The announcement came after the first Australian Orion aircraft to make a sortie over the target zone for missing Flight MH370 has returned without success. Flying Officer Peter Moore, the aircrafts captain, said a combination of less than ideal weather and sea conditions had closed in on the flight. He said his crew had flown through a thick layer of cloud from 2000 feet to 500 feet, isolate showers and sea fog above the surface. However, the aircraft had managed to cover 100 per cent of its planned search area, with RAAF officers manning the visual observer station on board. However, we werent able to find any evidence of wreckage from the missing Malaysian aircraft, officer Moore said. It came as Australias acting prime minister today said his forces air and sea search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 will continue while theres still hope. Warren Truss said no time limit had been placed on the operation which will continue indefinitely and until we are absolutely satisfied further searching is futile. He spoke at RAAF airbase Pearce in Perth, western Australia, after meeting with sailors and airmen who have been scouring a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean where debris was spotted by satellite six days ago. Australia, which announced the potential find and is coordinating the rescue, has cautioned the objects might be a lost shipping container or other debris and may have since sunk. Two weeks after the Malaysian airliner carrying 239 people vanished, international teams were stepping up their search today. Weather conditions were difficult in the area identified by Australian satellite pictures, Malaysian officials said in a press conference today, with strong currents and rough seas, and a cyclone predicted to be on the way to the area. Searches by more than two dozen countries have so far turned up little but frustration and fresh questions about the passenger jet which disappeared on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8. Six aircraft and two merchant ships were hunting for signs of the jet today. Asked whether there were any other satellite images yet to be released, Mr Truss said the Australia was not seeking to withold information. If there is new imagery that is relevant and can be released to the media, it will be, he said. We know the families are anxious for information. Mr Truss and the operations commander, Group Captain Craig Heap, said identifying and locating the two objects captured on satellite imagea would most likely be done qitwh the naked eye. It is primarily a visual search, Mr Truss said. You need to be low, you need to be close. Captain Heap added: Its a very difficult search, but if theres something out there and we are on top of the area will find [it]. Speaking on the edge of the air base tarmac as the sixth search plane of the day prepared to take off for the remote Indian ocean, Mr Truss said the arrival of two Chinese planes today and a Japanese aircraft tomorrow, as well as Chinese naval boats soon was a huge boost to the operation. This search is intensive, he said. We have had 15 sorties so far and no findings, but we are searching new areas because of the drift that has occurred. With the arrival of the Chinese fleet, with refuelling [support], it has the capability to stay in the area for a long time. Mr Truss dismissed a suggestion the Australian Government had waited too long to act following the discovery of the satellite images, risking the debris sinking to the ocean floor. He said the search had been launched at the earliest possible moment in relation to the time of the imagery was created and as soon as they were identified the government had acted. He defended Tony Abbotts perceived backdown from insisting the debris was MH370, to conceding a day later it could be a shipping container. Theres a lot of debris floating around the globe continuously and containers fall off ships, he said. But even if its not a definite lead, it is a more solid lead than any other. Mr Truss said Australia had the capability to co-ordinate a large international flotilla and aircraft from all over the world, as more countries sent craft and crew to Perth. Mr Hussein, Malaysias defence minister, said yesterday searchers realised that time was running out. The black box voice and data recorder only transmits an electronic signal for about 30 days before its battery dies. Aircraft and ships have also renewed the search in the Andaman Sea between India and Thailand, going over areas in the northern corridor that have already been exhaustively swept to find some clue to unlock one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation. Investigators suspect the Boeing 777 was deliberately diverted thousands of miles from its scheduled path. They say they are focusing on hijacking or sabotage but have not ruled out technical problems. The Daily Telegraph published what it said was a transcript of communications between the cockpit of Flight MH370 and Malaysian air control, but few if any new clues emerged. The search itself has strained ties between China and Malaysia, with Beijing repeatedly leaning on the South East Asian nation to step up its hunt and do a better job at looking after the relatives of the Chinese passengers. For families of the passengers, the process has proved to be an emotionally wrenching battle to elicit information. In a statement today, relatives in Beijing lambasted a Malaysian delegation for concealing the truth and making fools out of the families after they said they left a meeting without answering all their questions. This kind of conduct neglects the lives of all the passengers, shows contempt for all their families, and even more, tramples on the dignity of Chinese people and the Chinese government, they said. Some experts have argued that the reluctance to share sensitive radar data and capabilities in a region fraught with suspicion amid Chinas military rise and territorial disputes may have hampered the search.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Mar 2014 11:11:21 +0000
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