Inmarsat says told Malaysia of Indian Ocean possibility on March 12 MARCH 21, 2014 KUALA LUMPUR, March 21 — British satellite company Inmarsat said it was already “fairly certain” that search parties should scour the Indian Ocean for signs of MH370 two days after the aircraft disappeared and subsequently shared its data with Malaysia on March 12. The satellite maker said it first shared its data with a partner company on March 11, followed by the Malaysian investigators the following day. But it was only three days later on March 15 — a week after MH370’s disappearance on March 8 — that Malaysia called off the search at the South China Sea and Straits of Malacca and redirected troops to scour two corridors — a northern arc from northern Thailand to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in central Asia, or a southern one from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean. “This is very troubling, just thinking of the time wasted and what was ever on the water moving farther away,” said Tom Haueter, former National Transportation Safety Board investigator, was quoted saying in an ABC News report. According to the report, Inmarsat told ABC News that one day after the jetliner went missing, they had an “initial idea” of the plane’s possible whereabouts but by March 10, they were “fairly certain” of their suspicions. But according to Inmarsat spokesman Chris McLaughlin in a BBC report, the firm’s satellite data was merely just one of the many pieces of data shared by others in the massive hunt for MH370, which Malaysia is coordinating. “No, it’s not our place to be concerned,” he said, when asked if Inmarsat was concerned with how long it took Malaysia to act on the data. “Our position was we shared data and an idea that could be tested against other data with the correct authorities on the Tuesday. “We can’t possibly know what other data was in the investigation or what routes the Malaysian government were following,” he was quoted saying in the ABC News report. On March 14, it was publicly revealed on Inmarsat’s website that it had registered “routine, automated signals” from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 during its flight from Kuala Lumpur. At the time, the news offered some hope to the hunt for the aircraft as it appeared to corroborate reports that said satellites had picked up faint, electronic pulses or “pings” from MH370 hours after it was last heard from. Inmarsat, a London-based firm, reported its findings in a statement on its website but did not elaborate on when or how long the signals were received. “This information was provided to our partner SITA, which in turn has shared it with Malaysia Airlines,” it said in the statement, adding that further information should be obtained from Malaysia Airlines, the owner of the Boeing 777 aircraft that went missing. SITA is a global specialist in air transport communications and information technology. Yesterday, authorities in Australia announced what could possibly be a major breakthrough in the two-week hunt for MH370, the wide-body Boeing 777 aircraft that disappeared mysteriously off the coast of Kota Baru on March 8. Satellite images taken by DigitalGlobe, a Colorado satellite imaging company, on Sunday, March 16, showed at least two objects in the Indian Ocean, south of the search zone for MH370 that Australia was leading. The largest of the objects found measured 24 metres or 79 feet in length, Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) Emergency Response division general manager John Young told a press conference yesterday afternoon. “This is a lead, probably the best lead we have in the search, but we need to get there to see if it is related to MH370,” he said. Several assets from the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force and United States Navy were immediately deployed to the area but initial searches, which were hampered by low visibility and bad weather conditions, returned no positive information. Search continued early this morning but the authorities believe it could still be days before anything is found.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Mar 2014 04:55:03 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015