#MalaysiaAirlines, #MH370, #PrayForMH370
MH370 Search: Australian Satellite Spots Possible Plane Debris
An Australian satellite spotted two
objects in the southern Indian Ocean that could be related to the
disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Australian authorities
said Thursday in what they called "the best lead we have" in the search.
Prime
Minister Tony Abbott told Parliament on Thursday afternoon that he had
spoken to his Malaysian counterpart about the development.
The objects were spotted
in satellite imagery taken on Sunday about 2,250 kilometers, or roughly
1,400 miles, off the coast of Perth, John Young, emergency response
general manager for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, said at a
news conference Thursday afternoon in Canberra.
The
objects are "relatively indistinct," but the larger of the two appears
to be about 24 meters across, he said — about 75 feet.
A satellite image of one of the objects released Thursday by the Australian government. |
Young and Abbott said more analysis
was needed before it could be determined whether the objects were from
Flight 370, but Young called the discovery "the best lead we have right
now."
"The task of locating these
objects will be extremely difficult, and it may turn out that they may
not be related," Abbott said, but he characterized the find as "new and
credible information" in the search for the Beijing-bound plane, which
disappeared March 8 after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur.
Young agreed that the analysis mission would be difficult, describing
visibility in the area as "poor." Better data could be obtained from
further images expected once commercial satellites are redirected to
help out "in due course," he said.
Australian Defense Minister David Johnston called the operation "a logistical nightmare" in an interview on Sky News Australia.
"This
is a terribly complex logistical operation to identify what we have
found via the satellite," Johnston said. "We are in a most isolated part
of the world — in fact, it probably doesn't get, if I can be so bold,
more isolated."
A P-3 Orion
aircraft arrived in the area about 1:50 p.m. (10:50 p.m. ET Wednesday)
to try to get a closer look at the objects, and three more jets were on
their way to assist, Young said. One of them, a U.S. Navy P8 Poseidon,
was believed to have already arrived in the area, he said.
An Australian warship equipped to
recover large objects was also diverted to the area, but it isn't
expected to arrive for several days, he said.
Hishamuddin Hussein, Malaysia's acting transport minister, urged patience and caution, saying, "We need to verify."
But "with every lead, there is hope," Hishamuddin told reporters before a meeting with an Australian delegation in Sepang.
"As I have been doing from day one, we follow every single lead," he said. "Let's just hope this is a positive development."
At least three ambulances were
parked Thursday outside the Cyberview Hotel in Kuala Lumpur, where a
makeshift medical center was on standby to assist relatives of the
plane's passengers if needed, a Malaysia Airlines employee told NBC
News.
The majority of the plane's
passengers were Chinese citizens, and a spokesman for the Chinese
Foreign Ministry said Beijing was "highly concerned" about the findings,
the official Xinhua news agency reported.
Anxious relatives in Beijing appeared not to know how to take news of the discovery.
"We
are waiting, just waiting, and we can't respond to news until it is
definitely confirmed," Zhao Chunzeng, 43, of Beijing, told the news
agency Agence France-Presse.
"We will still have to wait and see," Zhao said.
A satellite image of the second object released Thursday by the Australian government. |
The objects are about 4,350 miles
from the plane's last known location, over Penang, Malaysia. Much
attention has focused on a region north of the Strait of Malacca, south of Phuket Island, Thailand, and west of the Malaysian peninsula.
Authorities suspect the plane may have veered sharply off its flight plan because of "deliberate action by someone" onboard.
— Ziad Jaber, Justin Kirschner and Sarah Burke of NBC News contributed to this report.
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