#MH370search: #focusshiftsfromair to #broaderunderwatersearch #AustralianPM, #TonyAbbott, says it is ‘#highlyunlikely’ there is still #aircraftdebris on #oceansurface Share 32 Tweet this Email Paul Farrell theguardian, Monday 28 April 2014 06.02 BST Jump to comments (192) Australian search officials are scaling back the air search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, and will instead conduct a broader underwater search operation that could take more than eight months to complete. After an exhaustive search that has involved dozens of ships, search planes and hundreds of air observers, the Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, announced on Monday that it was now “highly unlikely” any aircraft debris was still on the ocean surface. “I am here to inform you that the search will be entering a new phase. I regret to say that thus far none of our efforts in the air, on the surface or undersea have found any wreckage,” he said. “We are moving from the current phase to a phase which is focused on searching the ocean floor over a much larger area.” The Malaysia Airlines plane went missing 52 days ago, and is believed to have been lost in the Indian ocean, where the search has been heavily focused. The underwater vehicle Bluefin-21 has been scouring the floor of the Indian ocean for the last two weeks, but has found no trace of debris. In the early days of the underwater search the vessel was forced to surface early several times. Abbott said Bluefin-21 would continue the search, but that new techniques would be employed, including side-scan sonar detectors towed behind ships. “The Bluefin-21 submersible will continue in operation. What we are doing though is looking to an intensified underwater search involving different technology,” Abbott said. When asked about his earlier statement in China that he was “confident” that the position of the black box was known to “some kilometres”, he responded: “I’m not sure that I ever used quite that language, but we still have a considerable degree of confidence that the detections that were picked up … were from a black box recorder.” The head of Australia’s joint agency co-ordination centre, Angus Houston, added that he still believed the search was focused “in the right area”. As the costs of the search continue to mount for Australia, Abbott said that Australia “will be seeking some appropriate contribution from other nations involved”. theguardian/world/2014/apr/28/mh370-search-focus-shifts-from-air-to-broader-underwater-search?guni=Network%20front:network-front%20main-3%20Main%20trailblock:Network%20front%20-%20main%20trailblock:Position19
Posted on: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 19:51:55 +0000
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