Governance Africa: Global News Spirit lift in search for missing Malaysian jet There is increasing hope’’ that debris from a Malaysian passenger jet missing for over two weeks will be found in the southern Indian Ocean, Australian officials said on Sunday. Two Chinese aircraft and two from Japan joined the international force of ships and planes searching an area 2,500 kilometres south-west of Perth. Spirits were buoyed by an image of a large object, 22.5 metres by 13 metres, captured in the area by a Chinese satellite on Tuesday, two days after the initial satellite images were broadcast. The separate sightings were in relatively close proximity. Australian officials leading the search said ``several small objects of interest’’, including a wooden pallet and different coloured straps, were spotted Saturday from a search plane. ``Its a possible lead. Weve gone back to that area today to try and refine it. Its a possible lead,’’ Australian Maritime Safety Authority official, Mike Barton, said in Canberra. Two patches of ocean are being searched with a combined area of 59,000 square kilometres. Prime Minister Tony Abbott spoke of ``very credible leads’’. According to him, there is increasing hope ... that we may be on the road to discovering what did happen. A Malaysia Airlines passenger jet with 239 people on board vanished from radar on March 8, as it was on a flight that was to take it from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The object photographed last week by the Chinese satellite was about 120 kilometres from where the first images of possible debris from Flight MH370 were taken. Australias HMAS Success is already in the search area, and Chinese, British and more Australian naval vessels were en route. Two merchant ships had also been taking part in the search on requests by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, but one was released as more vessels arrived in the area. The Hoegh St Petersburg, a Norwegian cargo vessel transporting cars, is now bound for Melbourne, its original destination, its owner, Hoegh Autoliners, said
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 16:23:06 +0000
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