The possible aircraft parts have been found to the west of Australia, the country’s prime minister said today
Tony Abbott said the debris had been spotted on satellite imagery and aircraft were being sent to investigate
The significant announcement comes after investigators halved the scope of the search for the missing jet to an area roughly the size of Arizona
Two pieces of wreckage that are possibly from the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 – one estimated to be 78ft in size – have been found to the west of Australia, it was announced today.
The debris was spotted on satellite imagery and a total of four aircraft have been sent to investigate the sighting, some 1553 miles off the coast of Perth.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the potential breakthrough to Parliament in Canberra Thursday, but warned the wreckage may not be from the missing flight.
John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said at an afternoon press conference that one aircraft is already on scene searching the area, and three others were on their way to help with the search. A merchant ship dispatched in the search operation is due to arrive around 6p.m. local time.
The imagery, which was progressively captured by satellites passing over the area, has not yet been released to the media. Commercial satellites have now been tasked with collecting higher resolution images.
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Recovery mission begins: John Young, pictured, of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said at an afternoon press conference that one aircraft is already on scene searching the area, and three others were on their way to help with the search
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Recovery mission begins: John Young, pictured, of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said at an afternoon press conference that one aircraft is already on scene searching the area, and three others were on their way to help with the search
Aircraft: The above Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion aircraft from 10 Squadron is to join the Australian Maritime Safety Authority-led search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean today
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Aircraft: The above Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion aircraft from 10 Squadron is to join the Australian Maritime Safety Authority-led search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean today
Young said visibility was poor in the area, hampering both air and satellite efforts and he estimated the water in the location where the debris was spotted to be several thousand feet deep.
‘I must emphasize that these objects may be very difficult to locate,’ he said.
Young reiterated that it was too early to tell whether the objects spotted on satellite were related to MH370.
‘The images captured by satellite may not be related to the aircraft,’ he told reporters. ‘The objects are relatively indistinct. They may not be related to the search.
‘The indication to me is that the objects are of a reasonable size and probably awash with water.’
The aircraft sent to the site include two RAAF Orion planes, a Royal New Zealand Orion and a U.S. Navy Posiedon.
A New Zealand C130 Hercules has also been deployed. It is tasked to drop data marker buoys, which provide information about water movement. That information will be useful if the search becomes protracted, Mr Young said.
If one of these planes spots one of the objects, they will then report back an accurate GPS coordinate. The object would then be recovered and transported back to shore by the HMAS Success, which is, according to Mr Young, ‘equipped to recover any object that might be found.’
The HMAS Success is currently en route to the area, though is not due to arrive for several days.
When asked if the objects were the size of ‘a basketball or seat cushion,’ Young said one was 24 meters in size – or 78ft – and another was smaller.
He said there was a number of additional objects in the vicinity of the larger piece of wreckage and added that the current imagery was not clear enough to make out whether the objects appeared to be from a plane.
Malaysia confirmed in a statement that Mr Abbott called Prime Minister Najib Razak to inform him of the developments at around 10a.m local time.
The potentially huge break in the disappearance was announced after investigators halved the scope of the search for the passenger aircraft to an area roughly the size of Arizona late Wednesday.
‘New and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean,’ Mr Abbott told the Australian House of Representatives.
‘The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has received information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search. Following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified.’
But Abbott cautioned that the task of locating the objects will be extremely difficult and ‘it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370.’
Debris spotted: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott pictured today in Canberra, said two pieces of debris had been spotted on satellite imagery and aircraft were being sent to investigate
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Debris spotted: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott pictured today in Canberra, said two pieces of debris had been spotted on satellite imagery and aircraft were being sent to investigate
Narrowed the search: Investigators have halved the scope of the search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 to an area roughly the size of Arizona, off the coast of Australia
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Narrowed the search: Investigators have halved the scope of the search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 to an area roughly the size of Arizona, off the coast of Australia
Malaysia’s Acting Transportation Secretary Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement: ‘At this stage, Australian officials have yet to establish whether these objects are indeed related to the search for MH370.’
There have already been several false alarms of what were said to be pieces of the aircraft being seen in waters on both sides of the Malaysian peninsula.
He did not say where the objects were but due to the distance of the search area from the Australian coast, it takes the Orion aircraft five hours to reach the search zone, leaving them only two hours to search before they have to turn back to refuel.
A source told CNN: ‘Verification might take some time. It is very far and it will take some time to locate and verify the objects.’
The search had been drastically narrowed to two possible flight paths after hourly satellite pings detected from the aircraft were analyzed by U.S. and British aviation official, provided far more information than expected as to where a wreck may be found.
Military planes from Australia, the U.S. and New Zealand are now covering a search region over the southern Indian Ocean stretching 117,000 sq miles down from 232,000 sq miles.
Both of the routes head toward the South Pole and end in the Indian Ocean, some 1429 miles from Perth, ABC News reported. The calculations have now been handed over to Australian officials and the county’s search and rescue crews are combing the area.
Earlier Wednesday Malaysian officials confirmed they received ‘some radar data’ from other countries about the missing Flight MH370 – but claimed they were ‘not at liberty’ to release the information.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia was continuing to co-ordinate the search for the missing Boeing 777-200ER.
He added: ‘I can confirm that we have received some radar data, but we are not at liberty to release information from other countries.
‘I appeal to all our partners to continue volunteering any and all information that could help with the investigation and the search for MH370.’
Meanwhile, distraught family members of the missing passengers were removed from the press conference.
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Hishammuddin Hussein (centre) told a news conference Malaysia had received ‘some radar data’ but were ‘not at liberty’ to release information from other countries
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Hishammuddin Hussein (centre) told a news conference Malaysia had received ‘some radar data’ but were ‘not at liberty’ to release information from other countries
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