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In Hunt for Lost Jet, New Sightings of Debris Are Promising but Inconclusive In Hunt for Lost Jet, New Sightings of Debris Are Promising but Inconclusive
(about 3 hours later)
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 resumed in earnest on Saturday as surveillance planes returned to the skies above a newly defined search area and a Chinese patrol ship already in the zone tried to locate unidentified floating objects that were spotted by aircraft on Friday, the Australian authorities said. KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — The hunt for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 resumed in earnest on Saturday as surveillance planes returned to the skies above a newly defined search area in the southern Indian Ocean and spotted floating debris for the second day in a row, and a flotilla of vessels began arriving in the zone to find and identify the objects, the Australian authorities said.
Several other ships that make up part of the multinational force trying to find the Boeing 777-200 were expected to reach the zone sometime late Saturday, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is overseeing the search. Crews on two of the ships pulled several items from the water, but investigators determined that the objects were not from the missing plane, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is overseeing the search.
Five aircraft flying over the new search area on Friday “spotted multiple objects of various colors” floating in the water, the authority said. Officials planned to analyze images of the objects overnight and hoped the Chinese patrol ship would be able to find the objects and inspect them, if not recover them for evaluation. With several more ships en route to the zone late Saturday, the naval contingent of the multinational search force trying to locate the Boeing 777-200 was expected to reach a total of nine vessels by Sunday. A frigate from the Royal Australian Navy was also heading to the area and was scheduled to arrive on Tuesday.
A fresh sighting of floating objects was also reported Saturday afternoon by Xinhua, the official Chinese news agency, which said a Chinese aircraft spotted three colorful, unidentified objects floating in the new search zone. Two aircraft flying over the new search area on Saturday — one from the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force and the other from the Royal Australian Air Force — spotted floating debris. Five aircraft flying over the zone on Friday also spotted unidentified objects.
The officials involved in the search, mindful of the amount of detritus adrift in the world’s oceans, cautioned that the sightings were inconclusive so far. But officials involved in the search, mindful of the amount of detritus adrift in the world’s oceans, cautioned that the sightings were inconclusive on their own.
“It is not known how much flotsam, such as from fishing activities, is ordinarily there,” the Maritime Safety Authority said in its statement. “It is not known how much flotsam, such as from fishing activities, is ordinarily there,” the Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement.
At a news conference in Sydney, Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia said weather conditions on Saturday were “benign for that rather inhospitable part of the world.” A new analysis of radar data from the morning of March 8, as Flight 370 veered off its intended route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and instead flew west over Peninsular Malaysia and then south over the Indian Ocean, compelled officials to shift the search area on Friday to a zone about 1,100 miles west of Perth, Australia.
But he underscored the difficulty of the search, saying: “It is an extraordinarily remote location. These are inhospitable seas. It’s an inaccessible place. We are trying to find small bits of wreckage in a vast ocean, and while we are throwing everything we have at it, the task goes on.” The analysis showed that the plane was moving faster than investigators had previously estimated and therefore it would have burned fuel more quickly and possibly fallen into the Indian Ocean farther north than previously believed, officials said.
A new analysis of radar data from the morning of March 8, as Flight 370 veered off its intended route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and flew west over the Malay Peninsula and then south over the Indian Ocean, compelled officials to shift the search area on Friday to a zone about 1,100 miles west of Perth, Australia. The new search area is about 700 miles northeast of a zone that had been the focus of search efforts for most of the week.
The analysis showed that the plane was moving faster than investigators had previously estimated and therefore it would have burned fuel faster and possibly fallen into the Indian Ocean farther north than previously believed, officials said. The revision of the search area was based largely on work done by analysts from Boeing in Seattle, part of an international team of experts collaborating with Malaysian investigators, officials here said.
The new search area is about 700 miles northeast of a zone that had been the focus of search efforts for most of the week. Satellite images released in recent days by Australia, China, Thailand, Japan and Airbus Defense and Space, the European satellite launch company, has shown hundreds of floating objects in or very near the previous search area, giving hope that investigators were getting close. They arrived at their conclusions after re-evaluating the radar data and weighing other factors such as the amount of fuel on the plane when it took off from Kuala Lumpur and its altitude as it headed over the south Indian Ocean, Malaysian officials added, offering no further elaboration.
But at a news briefing in Kuala Lumpur on Friday evening, Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defense minister, said that considering the currents in that part of the Indian Ocean, the objects seen in the satellite images could have drifted from the new search area to where they were spotted. The new search area presents more favorable conditions for the search than the previous area, in part because it has less inclement weather and water conditions and is closer to Perth, the departure point for the search planes, officials said.
The revision of the search area was based largely on work done by analysts from Boeing in Seattle, part of a team of experts collaborating with Malaysian investigators, officials here said. It is also only a fifth of the size of the previous search area, though still large: 123,000 square miles, or 319,000 square kilometers, which is roughly the size of New Mexico or Poland.
Analysts arrived at their conclusions after re-evaluating the radar data and weighing other factors such as the amount of fuel on the plane when it departed and the altitude it was flying as it headed over the south Indian Ocean, Malaysian officials added, offering no further elaboration. But Australian and Malaysian officials cautioned that the new zone also posed considerable challenges.
Some 10 aircraft flew over the new search area on Friday, and eight aircraft returned on Saturday. “We are trying to find small bits of wreckage in a vast ocean,” said Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia. “And while we are throwing everything we have at it, the task goes on.”
The Chinese Maritime Safety Administration ship Haixun 01 was in the area at daybreak on Saturday, Australian officials said, and at least five other ships were expected to arrive in the zone by the end of the day. As the search was underway on Saturday, Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defense minister, stopped by a hotel near Kuala Lumpur to meet with the relatives of Chinese citizens who were aboard Flight 370. The Malaysian government has endured withering criticism by the relatives and friends of Chinese passengers, who have accused it of withholding information about the disappearance of the plane and not doing enough to find it.
The new search area offers more favorable conditions for the search, officials said. Speaking to reporters after the closed-door meeting, Mr. Hishammuddin said the families wanted assurances that the search-and-rescue operation would continue.
It is only a fifth of the size of the previous search area, though still large: At 123,000 square miles, or 319,000 square kilometers, it is roughly the size of New Mexico or Poland. “As long as there is even a remote chance of a survivor, we will pray and do whatever it takes,” he said, adding, “This is the hardest part of my life at the moment, meeting up with the families.”
It is also closer to Perth, the departure point for the search planes, which will now be able to cut their flight time by as much as an hour each way, allowing aircrews to spend more time combing the sea looking for debris from Flight 370.
In addition, the ocean in the new search area is shallower in some places than in the previous search area, and the weather less inclement, officials said.
But Australian and Malaysian officials cautioned that the new zone also posed considerable difficulties and that further analyses of data could result in still another change in the search area.
On Saturday, Mr. Hishammuddin stopped by a hotel near Kuala Lumpur to meet with the relatives of Chinese citizens who were aboard Flight 370. The Malaysian government has been subjected to withering criticism by the relatives and friends of Chinese passengers, who have accused Malaysian officials of withholding information about the disappearance of the plane and not doing enough to find it.
Speaking to reporters after the closed-door meeting, he said the families wanted assurances that the search-and-rescue operation would continue.
“As long as there is even a remote chance of a survivor, we will pray and do whatever it takes,” he said, adding: “This is the hardest part of my life at the moment, meeting up with the families.”
The recovery of debris from Flight 370 would provide final confirmation that the plane had crashed into the ocean and offer at least partial resolution to the families and friends of the passengers and crew.The recovery of debris from Flight 370 would provide final confirmation that the plane had crashed into the ocean and offer at least partial resolution to the families and friends of the passengers and crew.
It might also help solve perhaps the most enduring mystery of the plane’s disappearance: What caused it to veer so sharply off course? It might also help solve perhaps the most enduring mystery of the plane’s disappearance: What or who caused it to veer so sharply off course?
The debris might be of limited use in trying to locate the plane’s data recorders, or black boxes, because it could have drifted hundreds of miles from the point of impact. When debris is found quickly enough after a crash into the sea, investigators can trace its drift back to the impact site and conduct an underwater search to recover the plane’s data recorders, or black boxes. But in the case of Flight 370, any debris, if found, might well have drifted hundreds of miles in the three weeks since the plane’s disappearance and be of limited use in locating the crash site.
“The more time that passes, the more difficult it is to connect the debris that is found with the location of the crash,” Rémy Jouty, the director of the French Bureau of Investigation and Analyses, said in a recent interview. “We are already at a point where even if we find debris tomorrow that it is very difficult to make those kinds of calculations.” Still, recovered items from the plane might allow investigators to rule in or out certain events that could have precipitated a crash. Scorch marks, for example, might indicate that there was a fire, and the nature of any fire damage could offer clues about its source.
Still, recovered parts from the plane might allow investigators to rule in or out certain events that could have precipitated a crash. Scorch marks on the pieces, for example, might indicate that there was a fire, and the nature of any fire damage could offer clues about its source. In the case of the crash of Air France Flight 447 in 2009, the fact that the oxygen masks had not deployed and that life vests remained in their pouches indicated that those on board had not had time to prepare for an impact. Investigators also deduced from the damage that the plane hit the water at high speed, and they were able to tell which part of the plane hit the water first.
In the case of the crash of Air France Flight 447 in 2009, investigators were able to draw numerous conclusions from the state of the recovered debris. The fact that the oxygen masks had not deployed and that life vests remained in their pouches indicated that those on board had not had time to prepare for an impact. They deduced from the damage that the plane hit the water at high speed and were able to tell which part of the plane hit the water first. In addition, 50 bodies were recovered, and the autopsies revealed that the impact was extremely violent. The approaching winter in the Southern Hemisphere could present serious obstacles, and some experts said that an underwater search-and-recovery mission would not be possible in the short term as weather conditions deteriorate.
The approaching winter in the southern hemisphere could present serious obstacles, and some experts said that an underwater search-and-recovery mission would not be possible in the short term as weather conditions deteriorate. The relatively calmer waters optimal for an underwater search in the area would not return for about six months, they said. But while the wreckage of the plane probably rests in cold, deep waters and is unlikely to degrade significantly in the coming months, experts said, the prospect of a delay would be hard for search experts to explain to the family members and to politicians who want to demonstrate that they are doing everything possible to find out what happened.
But while the plane wreckage is probably in deep, cold waters and unlikely to degrade significantly in that time, the prospect of such a delay would be hard for search experts to explain to the family members and to politicians who want to demonstrate they are doing everything possible to find out what happened.