Friday, 28 March 2014

Missing Flight MH370: Thai Satellite Spots 300 Objects

A Thai satellite has spotted 300 floating
objects, but hopes of a breakthrough in
the search for MH370 are likely to be
frustrated by another day of bad
weather.
Last night, the Australian Maritime
Safety Authority tweeted that bad
weather was expected in the search zone
for the next 24 hours.
“Ships staying in search area & will
attempt to continue searching but all
planes returning,” AMSA tweeted.
The objects detected by the satellite
range from two to 16 metres in length,
and are about 2700 kilometres southwest
of Perth, said Anond Snidvongs,
director of Thailand’s space technology
development agency.
“But we cannot — dare not — confirm
they are debris from the plane,” he
said.
The pictures were taken by Thailand’s
only earth observation satellite on
Monday but took several days to process
and were relayed to Malaysian
authorities on Wednesday, he said.
The discovery was reported less than 24
hours after the Malaysian government
revealed 122 objects had been seen
about 2557 kilometres from Perth,
ranging in length from one metre to 23
metres.
It’s unknown whether the satellites
detected the same objects; currents in
the ocean can run a meter per second
(about 2.2mph) and wind also could
move material.
However, for relatives of the 239 people
aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, it
was yet another agonising day of
waiting.
“Until something is picked up and
analysed to make sure it’s from MH370
we can’t believe it, but without anything
found it’s just clues,” Steve Wang, whose
57-year-old mother was aboard the
flight, said in Beijing.
“Without that, it’s useless.”
Thailand faced criticism after
announcing more than a week after the
jet’s disappearance on March 8 that its
radar had picked up an “unknown
aircraft” minutes after flight MH370
last transmitted its location.
The Thai air force said it did not report
the findings earlier as the plane was not
considered a threat.
The Malaysia Airlines plane is presumed
to have crashed in the Indian Ocean
with 239 people on board after
mysteriously diverting from its Kuala
Lumpur-Beijing path and apparently
flying for hours in the opposite
direction.
Thunderstorms and gale-force winds
grounded the international air search
for wreckage on Thursday. [AAP]

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