The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 enters its third week today, amid foul weather that has grounded search aircraft in Perth since yesterday.
The severe weather - which includes heavy turbulence and ‘near zero visibility’ - is expected to end only at about noon today, but six ships have remained in the search area to keep looking for signs of the missing aircraft.
This comes as both Thailand and Japan add to the growing list of countries from which satellites have picked up objects floating at sea near the vicinity of the search radius, hopefully debris from Flight MH370.
Searchers scouring the ocean have about a week to find the aircraft and its black box before the task is made more difficult when its ‘pinger’ runs out of battery, and about a month before the colder weather ushers in even worse weather, including waves of up to 15 metres high.
Below are updates and the latest coverage from various sources and news agencies:
Objects sighted at sea, pending identification
8.50pm: The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) says it has concluded its search for the day, and five out of 10 search aircraft involved have spotted suspicious objects at sea.
“Photographic imagery of the objects was captured and will be assessed overnight,” it said, while cautioning that it won’t be known whether the objects are from MH370 until ships can find and recover it.
The Chinese Maritime Administration patrol ship Haixun 01 has been assigned to find the object tomorrow, and the weather is forecast to be “reasonable for searching”.
A total of 256,000 square kilometres of sea has been searched today, with a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion aircraft reports finding a fishing buoy and a number of objects that are “white or light in colour”.
Another P-3 aircraft from the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) investigated the same area and reports seeing “two blue/grey rectangular objects” floating in the ocean.
Yet another RAAF Orion aircraft spotted “various objects of various colours” in another area, about 546 kilometres away, Amsa said.
6.30pm: Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) reports that the Royal New Zealand Air Force’s Orion aircraft has spotted objects in the new search area.
However, it says the sightings must be confirmed by ships. This, it says, is not expected until tomorrow.
Pilots and co-pilots are rostered
6.21pm: The daily press briefing scheduled for tomorrow is cancelled.
5.45pm: The daily press briefing on the status of the ongoing search for MAS Flight MH370 begins.
As usual, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein leads the session, now being held at the Putra World Trade Centre (PWTC) in the centre of Kuala Lumpur.
Here are some of the highlights:
- The new search area is now 1,680 kilometres west of Perth, and search and recovery efforts are still being led by Australia. Read Reuters ' full story .
5.17pm: Already faced with many obstacles in the search for debris, such as severe weather and underwater volcanoes, search teams must take into account the presence of whales, says Australia’s news.com.au .
Quoting Curtin University’s Dr Alec Duncan, from its Centre for Marine Science and Technology, the report states that “background noises” such as that emitted by the large marine mammals would make detection of the plane’s black box’s ‘pings’ harder.
Pakatan MP apologises for 'we could find MH370' claim
5.11pm: DAP's Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng retracts his statement proclaiming that Pakatan Rakyat would have been able to locate missing Flight MH370 if it commandeered the air force and navy.
"Please accept my expression of deep regret for having made that comment," he says.
Read full story here .
Memorandum against US media
5.01pm: Bernama reports that three NGOs are planning to submit a memorandum of protest to the United States Embassy to object the coverage by three American media agencies on the MH370 crisis, which they say paints Malaysia in bad light.
The three - Islamic Consumers Association of Malaysia (PPIM), International Muslim Consumer Association (IMCA) and Malaysian Media Foundation (MMF) - say they will submit the memorandum on Tuesday against Cable News Network (CNN), Fox News and Washington Post .
'Only right M'sia leads talks with families'
5pm: UK's Air Accident Investigations Board (AAIB) says it declined to brief the Chinese families over its calculations, which led to the conclusion MH370 fell into the Indian Ocean, as it is only assisting Malaysia.
"This is not the AAIB’s investigation. The AAIB, working as part of an international team, continues to give its full support to the investigation and to share its expertise and analysis with Malaysian authorities.
"Given that the Malaysians are leading the investigation, it is entirely right that they also lead in communicating developments with the families, the media and the wider public," British daily The Guardian reports AAIB as saying.
This comes after Malaysian officials in Beijing informed the families of passengers there that British experts had refused their invitation to attend the briefing session.
Chinese families walk out of 'useless' briefing
4.35pm: Families of Chinese nationals on board Flight MH370 staged a walkout from today’s briefing by Malaysian officials, Singapore’s Straits Times reports.
It says, in a series of tweets, that the over 300 relatives left one hour into what they deemed was a “useless” briefing.
However, it reports that one relative stayed back long enough to ask the officials if lives were more important than national interest, but “left without hearing their answer”.
Nine days to go to trace black box
4.05pm: To recap - There are just nine days for search teams to find the plane before the black box battery runs out and it ceases to emit 'pings'.
According to Australia's news.com.au , the black box emits one 'ping' per second for 30 days, which can be picked up by sonar and acoustic-locating equipment.
However, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein has vowed that search for the missing plane will not stop even after the black box battery runs out after the 30 days.
He Hishammuddin says there are other means investigators and search parties can employ to locate the black box.
'Put Pakatan in charge of navy, air force'
3.50pm: DAP's Segambut MP Lim Lip Eng states that Pakatan Rakyat would be able to find the missing aircraft if it had control of the nation’s air force and the navy.
"It's very simple. Make one of the DAP's leaders the commander of the air force or navy, then we will find MH370," The Malay Mail Online reports him as telling reporters today.
This follows former MCA chief Dr Chua Soi Lek's challenge to Pakatan to launch its own search if it thinks it can do better.
Indonesian family denies Boeing petition
2pm: The brother-in-law of an Indonesian passenger on the flight, Firman Chandra Siregar, denies that the family has engaged a law firm to obtain information from MAS and aircraft manufacturer Boeing in a prelude to a lawsuit.
In a letter to Indonesian portal Detik.com , Clemens Triaji Bektikusuma says the family did not authorise the petitioner to act on their behalf and has no plan to do so.
The letter has been copied to the Malaysian government.
Earlier, Reuters reported that Firman's uncle, Januari Siregar, had filed the petition through Chicago law firm Ribbeck Law.
Pilot's simulator probe comes up empty
12.55pm: FBI analysts examining MH370 pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s flight simulator have yet to find any clue that might shed light on the aircraft’s disappearance, the Wall Street Journal reports.
"The bureau is wrapping up its study of the hard drives this week, and investigators had hoped that a close examination of the data - including deleted files on the flight simulator - might offer new leads to pursue," says the report, quoting two unnamed officers said to be familiar with the analysis.
The report adds that the FBI will turn over its findings to the Malaysian government.
Search cost can be 10 times that for Air France
12.30pm: As the search for MH370 draws on, a Chinese scientist has warned that the operation could become the most expensive in aviation history, up to 10 times more than the annual cost of the two-year hunt for the black box of the crashed Air France Flight 447.
"If the operation is stretched to a long-term search for years, US$200 million (RM655.5 million) per year is barely enough to maintain the multinational effort," says Ocean University of China oceanographer Zhao Chaofang, according to the South China Morning Post today.
The report says France and Brazil spent more than US$40 million (RM131.1 million) over two years to search for Flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009.
Avionics fire raises eyebrows
11.35am: MAS in a statement clarifies that the fire at its Subang avionics workshop "was brought under control immediately" and there were no injuries or damage "to the confined area of the corridor".
Avionics are electrical equipment used in an aircraft. They include the black box data transponder, navigational and communications equipment.
Former Wangsa Maju MP Wee Choo Keong in his blog called on CEO of MAS Aerospace Engineering Azhari Dhalan to explain what caused the fire.
"And more importantly, what documents or properties have been destroyed by this mysterious fire and was this a sabotage?" Wee says in his posting.
This is the fourth mishap reported involving MAS since Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8.
Earlier, MAS MH114's landing in Kathmandu, Nepal, was struck by a flock of ducks, while MH066 was diverted from Seoul to Hong Kong due to aircraft generator failure.
Previous search 'not a waste of time'
11.30am: Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) holds a joint press conference with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ASTB). This is what they say:
- The search area has been revised northeast and is now 1,100 kilometres away from the original search site due to new analysis on existing data.
MAS: Think of families before speculating
11.15am: MAS urges the people to consider the affect on the families of those on board Flight MH370 when speculating about the issue.
“Their anguish and distress increase with each passing day, with each fresh rumour, and with each false or misleading report,” says MAS chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya in a statement, amidst speculation that the aircraft had been hijacked by one of the pilots.
He also pledged to give what information it can, but points out that MAS’ ability to do so is constrained by ongoing investigations.
Searchers fight fatigue as search drags on
10am: Resting on their elbows, eyes darting about and with a binoculars within arm’s reach, spotters on aircraft are battling fatigue as they comb the vast Indian Ocean for signs of MH370.
"It is incredibly fatiguing work," says Flight Lt Stephen Graham, who serves as the tactical coordinator for the Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion crew that is involved in the search.
“The P-3 has a lot of really advanced sensors and they're really useful in our other roles, but for search and rescue, when you can't guarantee a large or a metallic target, vision is the best that you've got,” he says in an article published by the AP .
The report describes the monotony of the search, and crew members such as Graham undergo over a year of training in spotting techniques, including techniques for overcoming fatigue.
He remains optimistic, however, despite the vastness of the search area, saying, “You might be looking for a single canoe in the vastness of the Pacific and we do find them. So there is always hope.
Read full story here .
Radar analysis shows 'plane was flying faster'
9.29am: Amsa announces that search area will shift 1,100kilometre northeast of the current search radius to account for the “latest credible lead” provided by the international investigation team in Malaysia.
That means search teams will now cover 319,000 square kilometres some 1,850kilometres west of Perth.
“The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB)... has examined this advice (by team in Malaysia) and determined that this is the most credible lead to where debris may be located,” it says in a statement.
Amsa adds that continuing analysis of radar data between the South China Sea and the Straits of Malacca before radar contact was lost, “indicates the aircraft was travelling faster than previously estimated, resulting in increased fuel usage and reducing the possible distance the aircraft travelled south into the Indian Ocean”.
Meanwhile, the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation is re-tasking satellites to image the new area.
It also reports improved weather, with 10 aircraft tasked for today’s search. Read more here .
Six satellite sightings to date
9am: To recap, Japan and Thailand have separately announced new sightings of suspected debris yesterday near where MH370 is believed to have crashed, via their own satellites. They found 300 objects and 10 objects respectively.
This is in addition to several earlier sightings made by other countries hundreds of kilometres apart, namely Australia, China, France, and Malaysia – sometimes by analysing satellites images taken by a third party.
However, to date none of these suspected debris have been recovered for confirmation whether it is related to MH370, which is a vital step towards narrowing down the search area.
It is only after the search area is narrowed down when sophisticated equipment such as pinger locators can be brought in to begin its slow, methodical search for the aircraft’s black box, and hopefully answers to the MH370 mystery.
'Must get initial location right'
8.20am: The US Navy says is sending a second P-8 Poseidon aircraft to Perth today to join the search for MH370, while its P-3 Orion aircraft that has previously searched the Northern Indian Ocean is being recalled to its base in Okinawa, Japan.
In a statement released just after midnight today, it says the severe weather in the search area makes the addition of this all-weather aircraft ‘especially valuable’.
"It's critical to continue searching for debris so we can reverse-forecast the wind, current and sea state since March 8 to recreate the position where MH370 possibly went into the water.
“We've got to get this initial position right prior to deploying the towed pinger locator since the MH370's black box has a limited battery life and we can't afford to lose time searching in the wrong area," says US 7th Fleet oceanographer Tom Moneymaker.
Search resumes to find possible debris
8am: The Australian Maritime and Safety Authority (Amsa) confirms today’s search efforts are back on track at the south Indian Ocean.
Ten aircraft will depart for the search area from Perth in stages, starting with a Chinese Il-76 aircraft ( left ). The last departure will be at about 2pm Malaysian time, for a US Navy P-8 Poseidon and a Japanese P-3 Orion.
It takes about four hours to fly to the search area from Perth.
Operations were hampered by severe weather yesterday, forcing planes to withdraw, while search ships remain in an attempt to locate one of hundreds of debris sighted by various satellites and those spotted by air surveillance over the course of the past few days.
Background:
- The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200ER aircraft went missing not long after taking off from KL International Airport in the early hours of March 8, with 12 crew members and 227 passengers.
