Satellite finds objects possibly from MH370, says Aussie PM MARCH 20, 2014 01:14 PM Two objects possibly related to the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been sighted, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said today. Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement: “At 10 this morning, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak received a call from Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia, informing him that ‘two possible objects related to the search’ for MH370 had been identified in the Southern Indian Ocean. The Australian high commissioner has also briefed me on the situation. “At this stage, Australian officials have yet to establish whether these objects are indeed related to the search for MH370.” Abbott told Parliament new and credible information had come to light nearly two weeks after the plane vanished. He said an Australian air force Orion had been diverted to look into the objects. He did not specify where they were but Australia has taken charge of the search in the southern Indian Ocean. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has received information based on satellite information of objects possibly related to the search, Abbott said. Following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified. Twenty-six nations have been searching for the missing Boeing 777-200ER (9M-MRO) over an area roughly the size of Australia for 13 days, but the massive hunt had found no trace of any wreckage until today’s announcement from Australia. Reuters reports Abbott as saying a search aircraft was due to arrive at the area where the objects were spotted about the time he was speaking in Parliament. A further three aircraft were also en route to the site. Abbott said he had already spoken with his Malaysian counterpart Datuk Seri Najib Razak and cautioned that the objects had yet to be identified. The task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and it may turn out they are not related to the search for MH370, said Abbott. The AMSA said it would hold a media briefing in Canberra in about an hour. Putrajaya had on Monday asked Canberra to take responsibility for the southern vector of the operation to locate the Boeing 777, which disappeared on March 8 en route to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew on board. Putrajaya believes the jet was deliberately diverted and flew for several hours after leaving its scheduled flight path – either north towards Central Asia, or towards the southern Indian Ocean. Australian, American and New Zealand long-range surveillance planes have been scouring a vast tract of the southern Indian Ocean since Tuesday with the search focused on an area of 305,000 square kilometres, some 2,600km from Perth. Investigators believe that the plane had most likely flew into the southern Indian Ocean, a source close to the investigation told Reuters yesterday. The working assumption is that it went south, and furthermore that it went to the southern end of that corridor, said the source, referring to a search area stretching from west of Indonesia to the Indian Ocean west of Australia. The view is based on the lack of any evidence from countries along the northern corridor that the plane crossed their airspace, and the failure to find any trace of wreckage in searches in the upper part of the southern corridor. – Agencies, March 20, 2014.
Posted on: Thu, 20 Mar 2014 06:16:06 +0000
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