Satellite imagery provided to AMSA of possible debris from MH370.
An international force of surveillance planes and ships has converged in a remote part of the Indian Ocean to investigate what Australian satellite experts say are “credible” images of pieces of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.
Nearly two weeks after flight MH370 disappeared, Australian authorities were describing as their “best lead” the grainy satellite images of two objects about 2500 kilometres southwest of Perth.
Four aircraft were sent on Thursday to search the area, with an Australian P-3 Orion aircraft arriving mid-afternoon and a cutting-edge United States P-8 Poseidon due to arrive shortly after that. Another Australian Orion as well as an Orion from the Royal New Zealand Air Force were due to arrive later on Thursday.
Australia has sent HMAS Success from Fremantle, a journey expected to take several days, underscoring the seriousness with which authorities are taking the potential breakthrough.
An Australian source familiar with the operation urged caution, saying there were still many “vagaries” about the situation and that there was not enough evidence to have a “high level of confidence”.
He added: “It’s certainly the [only] show in town and it’s going to focus all of our efforts.”
John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said two objects, one measuring roughly 24 metres in length, had been found on images taken by a commercial satellite.
Those images had been analysed by Defence’s satellite experts from the Australian Geospatial Intelligence Organisation, which deemed them “credible sightings”, he said.
Mr Young said poor weather was likely to hamper the search, which was set to continue until about midnight AEST and continue at first light Friday.
A former Qantas pilot, Trevor Jensen, told the ABC that the larger object could be a wing or a part of the tail. Fuel is stored in the wings and, if it had run out, the wing would likely float, he said.
Each wing of a Boeing 777 is about 27 metres long, but the satellite image suggests an object that is broader than a plane’s wing.
Mr Young also urged caution, saying: “I must emphasise that these objects may be very difficult to locate and they may not be related to the search.”
The satellite images are understood to have been taken on Sunday, March 16, raising questions about why it has taken four days for authorities to act. The Government has said they were taken by a commercial satellite.
A merchant ship was also due to reach the area about 6pm on Thursday, possibly providing the best close-up of the objects.
The Prime Minister, Tony Abbott, broke the news of the find in Parliament on Thursday, saying he had informed his Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, and promised to keep him updated.
Mr Young said Australian authorities were also retasking satellites to collect more images of the area, but could not say when more images would be available.
Experts have warned that even if the wreckage is found, strong currents in the southern Indian Ocean meant that the black box could be hard to find.
Mr Young said he understood the ocean to be “several thousand metres” deep in that area.
The black box will be crucial to solving the mystery of what happened on the plane. If the objects prove to be wreckage from MH370, it means the plane likely flew until it ran out of fuel.
An aviation expert from UNSW, Peter Marosszeky, said he believed the crash was a combination of foul play and an electrical fault.
“It looks there was foul play and whoever was the in cockpit couldn’t get the plane to work the way they wanted it to,” he said.
Mr Marosszeky said when communication was lost, all electronic signals and lights on board would have been disabled.
A senior Indonesian minister, Djoko Suyanto, said it was “too early to conclude that the debris belongs to the MH370 plane”.
“In the early days of the search, there was also a satellite image of the South China sea, but it turned out not to be from that plane, so we have to be careful,” he told Indonesian TV.
“We cannot conclude that it’s MH370 until after we carefully examine the site.”
source: smh.com.au
STUDIO 3 NEWCASTLE AUSTRALIA 