10 months on, Australia confident of finding MH370

Wednesday, 21 January 2015 01:23 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Missing airliner MH370 is ‘very likely’ to be found if it lies in the vast undersea zone now being scoured, and is probably in good condition despite being submerged for 10 months, the Australian search chief told AFP. Three vessels, with a fourth on the way, are probing the depths of the Indian Ocean off western Australia where the Malaysian Airlines plane carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese, is believed to have crashed.

A relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries as she talks on her phone at the Beijing Capital International Airport, 8 March 2014 – Reuters/File photo The jet disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March last year, and apart from some mysterious satellite ‘pings’ believed to plot its southern course, no sign of it has been found despite a massive air and sea operation. Relatives of those on board have endured a long wait for answers on what happened to their loved ones, with their torment reawakened by AirAsia Flight QZ8501 crashing into the sea off Indonesia on 28 December. So far, one quarter of the priority underwater search area of 60,000 square kilometres (23,166 square miles) has been checked, while a wider zone of 208,000 square kilometres has been mapped. “Our satellite calculations gave us an area we determined was high priority,” Martin Dolan, the chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search, told AFP. “In this 60,000 square kilometres, it’s very likely we will find the aircraft, but we don’t know exactly where. We just have to cover that area thoroughly until we find the aircraft.” The priority search began in early October and will accelerate over the next few months as weather conditions improve, with the hunt expected to wrap up in May. If the jet is not found, a decision on extending the investigation would be made by Australia and Malaysia, which have jointly shouldered the cost. Dolan said mapping had led to the discovery of previously unknown undersea features such as mountains, volcanoes, chasms and a rough, uneven sea floor, highlighting the challenges. To take a closer look at the complex terrain, the Australian and Malaysian governments said Wednesday they were jointly funding the fourth ship, Fugro Supporter, to join the probe later this month. While the other three vessels – Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery and GO Phoenix – use sophisticated sonar systems attached to tow cables up to 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) long, the Supporter will have an autonomous underwater vehicle. “(It) can be programmed and cover areas much more thoroughly. It’s of course a lot slower,” Dolan said, adding that about five percent of the search area needed the closer scrutiny. “We need to go slow so that we can be 100% sure that we have covered that area totally.”

MH370 kin view latest crash with empathy, envy

BEIJING: Images of bodies and wreckage floating in Indonesian waters gave relatives of those lost aboard AirAsia Flight QZ8501 anguish and grief, but they also provided the answers that other families have sought in vain for nearly 10 months. Those with loved ones aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 can only imagine what happened to them, and can only hope to one day know for sure. “We have been living in anxiety, fear and hate, and our lives have been utterly messed up, but we as ordinary people are unable to do anything,” said Dai Shuqin, whose sister was on the missing plane with her husband, daughter, son-in-law and grandchild. What happened to MH370, which took off on March 8 from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing, remains a mystery. The jetliner disappeared after veering off course and flying for hours with its communications systems disabled. It is thought to have crashed about 1,800 km off Australia’s west coast, but no trace of the aircraft or the 239 people aboard – most of whom were Chinese – has been found despite an exhaustive and continuing search. On hearing the news that the AirAsia plane had lost contact on Sunday morning, MH370 relatives said they immediately sympathised with the families who were in the same position they were on 8 March. “I can feel the coldness they are feeling now,” said Jiang Hui, whose mother was on MH370. Two days later, with debris spotted in the sea, it was already a different story. Some families of the Flight MH370 victims felt a sort of envy.