- Search co-ordinator says objects 'could be best lead to find survivors'
- But Australian PM warns debris could simply be shipping containers
- Acting Prime minister believes the suspected debris may have sunk
- Pilot says he has 'a lot of hope' after two-hour sweep of search area
- Search party has 29 planes, 21 ships and 6 helicopters from 20 nations
- Malaysian defence minister warns the search was going to be a 'long haul'
- Operation has finished for a second day with nothing significant found
- Teams will return tomorrow as operation is extended for another day
- Only 16 days left before batteries on the locator beacons run out
- Malaysia to request deep ocean salvage vehicles from the United States
- Plane was carrying lithium ion batteries, but 'not deemed hazardous'
The planes are part of an international effort to solve the nearly two-week-old mystery of what happened to flight MH370 which vanished with 239 people on board.
Warren Truss, who is acting prime minister while Tony Abbott is in Papua New Guinea, said: 'The last report I have is that nothing of particular significance has been identified in the search today but the work will continue.'
He said the suspected debris may have sunk.
The agency co-ordinating the hunt had earlier said it still holds out hope of finding people alive despite the lack of any credible sightings of the debris so far.
But Mr Abbott took a more cautious approach, stressing the objects could simply be shipping containers. 'We just don't know,' he added.
Scanning the seas: A Royal Australian Air Force
AP-3C Orion plane passes over the Norwegian car transport ship Hoegh St
Petersburg during the search for the missing flight MH370
'We just don't know': Australian Prime Minister
Tony Abbott stressed the objects could simply be containers that had
fallen off a ship
Flight Lieutenant Neville Dawson (centre)
monitors instruments aboard the Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion
on the second day of an extensive search of the remote reaches of the
southern Indian Ocean
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said it was preparing for the remote possibility of a human rescue mission should two large objects spotted by satellites some 1,500miles off the coast of Perth be part of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight.
John Young, the general manager of AMSA's Emergency Response Division, said the focus of the search - which now includes 29 planes, 21 ships and six helicopters from more than 20 countries - was first and foremost on trying to locate the debris.
'We want to find these objects because they might be the best lead to where we might find people to be rescued,' said Mr Young.
'We have done some work on that area and we're still focused on that task.
'It is a very large team effort... with the international community providing technical support and information and we're all very grateful for that.'
'We've got a lot of hope': Captain Russell
Adams, the pilot of the Australian P3 Orion updates the media on the
search for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean after landing back at
Pearce air base in Perth
'Nothing of significance': A Royal Australian
Air Force AP-3C Orion arrives back at RAAF base Pearce in Perth, Western
Australia, after failing to find any signs of suspected debris that may
belong to flight MH370
An updated image released by the Australian Maritime and Safety Authority today, detailing the search area planned for today
6.7 QUAKE STRIKES OFF NICOBAR ISLANDS NEAR MH370 SEARCH ZONE
A 6.7-magnitude earthquake struck off India's Nicobar Islands on Friday, the U.S. Geological Service reported.
The quake hit at a relatively shallow depth of 6.2 miles (10 km) about 68 miles (110 km) southeast of Misha, Nicobar Islands, in the Indian Ocean, the agency said.
The area is close to where aircraft and ships have renewed a search for missing flight MH370 in the Andaman Sea between India and Thailand.
The quake hit at a relatively shallow depth of 6.2 miles (10 km) about 68 miles (110 km) southeast of Misha, Nicobar Islands, in the Indian Ocean, the agency said.
The area is close to where aircraft and ships have renewed a search for missing flight MH370 in the Andaman Sea between India and Thailand.
The captain, Flight Lieutenant Russ Adams, told a press gathering at Pearce RAAF air base: 'We've got a lot of hope. We got out there and had really good weather.
'Compared to yesterday the visibility was great, more than 10km visibility, we had a really opportunity to see.
'There are more aircraft out there, still searching, and with any luck we'll find something shortly.'
However, Malaysian officials have expressed disappointment that no debris has been found yet.
An airline official said it was 'frustrating for us and the families as days go by with nothing positive so far.'
In Beijing, relatives met with Malaysian officials at a hotel where most have been staying awaiting the latest news.
Attendees said they had a two-hour briefing about the search but that nothing new was said.
The last of the five military aircraft dispatched from Perth on Friday completed its scheduled area sweep by about 7pm local time (11am GMT).
Royal Australian Air Force personnel are also
involved in the search for MH370, pictured here filming their search
operation over the Indian Ocean
Royal Australian Air Force Loadmasters, Sergeant
Adam Roberts (L) and Flight Sergeant John Mancey (R), prepare to launch
a data marker buoy from a C-130J Hercules aircraft in the southern
Indian Ocean as part of the Australian Defence Force's assistance to the
search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
Captain Adams uses binoculars to search for debris in the Indian Ocean some 1,500miles southwest of Perth
'We may have to do this a few times to be confident about the coverage of that search area.'
Mr Young confirmed that Saturday's plan was to repeat the same process followed Friday, moving within the search zone according to weather patterns.
AMSA is also looking to acquire more satellite imagery to see if it can provide 'new or refined information'.
Mr Truss, who is acting Australian prime minister while Mr Abbott is in Papua New Guinea said the search was difficult due to testing weather conditions and because the satellite imagery was five days old.
Dejected: A Chinese relative of passengers on
the missing Malaysia Airlines plane looks out of a bus window as she
leaves a resort in Cyberjaya, Malaysia
Heartache: Relatives wait for new information on the search for MH370 at a hotel in Beijing
Concern: Relatives of Chinese passengers aboard
missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 watch a TV news program about the
missing plane after attending a meeting with Malaysian officials at a
hotel in Beijing
INDIA DOESN'T WANT CHINESE SHIPS 'SNIFFING ROUND' TERRITORY
India has refused China's offer to send four warships to aid the hunt for MH370 near the Andaman and Nicobar archipelago.
Officials said China's request to enter Indian territorial waters had been 'politely turned down' because Indian warships and aircraft were already searching the area.
One official told The Times of India: 'The A&N command is our military outpost in the region, which overlooks the Malacca Strait and dominates the Six-Degree Channel.
'We don't want Chinese warships sniffing around in the area on the pretext of hunting for the missing jetliner or anti-piracy patrols.'
Officials said China's request to enter Indian territorial waters had been 'politely turned down' because Indian warships and aircraft were already searching the area.
One official told The Times of India: 'The A&N command is our military outpost in the region, which overlooks the Malacca Strait and dominates the Six-Degree Channel.
'We don't want Chinese warships sniffing around in the area on the pretext of hunting for the missing jetliner or anti-piracy patrols.'
'It's also certain that any debris or other material would have moved a significant distance over that time, potentially hundreds of kilometres.'
If the report of suspected debris is confirmed, naval vessels will drag a sonar through the water to seek the black boxes through radio beacons, but time for this is running out.
The beacons have a battery life of at least 30 days, leaving possibly only 16 days to find them before the signals die.
Truss told reporters that two Chinese aircraft are expected to arrive in Perth on Saturday to join the search and two Japanese aircraft will be arriving Sunday.
A small flotilla of ships coming to Australia from China was still several days away, he added.
'We are doing all that we can, devoting all the resources we can and we will not give up until all of the options have been exhausted,' Truss said.
'We can't be certain that the sightings are in fact debris from the aircraft (but) it is about the only lead that is around at the present time.'
Asked at a press conference today whether he had any idea what happened to the flight, Malaysian Defence Minister Hussein Hishamuddin replied with a simple 'no'.
Repeating as he had earlier that 'this is going to be a long haul and the focus is to reduce the area of search and possible rescue', he said nothing unusual had been found in background checks on the passengers.
Mr Hishammuddin said he would be speaking to U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel later on Friday 'to request further specialist assets to help with the search and rescue efforts, including remotely operated vehicles for deep ocean salvage.'
The minister also said 'international parties' were looking at the flight simulator pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah had set up at his home and he hoped to be able to give information soon on the latest developments.
Meanwhile, top level talks between the British and Malaysian Prime Ministers have resulted in David Cameron promising to make available a list of 'assets' - believed to mean ships and aircraft - that could be used in the search for MH370.
Despair: A relative wipes a tear away as she waits for new information at a hotel in Beijing
Relatives met with Malaysian officials at a hotel in Beijing where most have been staying awaiting the latest news
The Malaysian Prime Minister, Mr Najib
Razak, spoke to Mr Cameron as Australian and US aircraft failed to find
any sign of 'credible' evidence that might be from the
missing Boeing 777 aircraft.Mr Cameron told the Malaysian Prime Minister that the UK had re-stated that, in addition to technical support it was already providing - helping in the analysis of satellite and radar data - he was ready to provide futher assistance.
Malaysian authorities also confirmed that the plane was carrying some lithium ion batteries - which have been known to catch fire - in its cargo hold.
But the batteries - used in mobile phones and laptops - were not deemed a hazard because they were packed according to safety regulations.
'These are not regarded as dangerous goods... and were packed as recommended by the International Civil Aviation Organisation,' Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told the press conference.
Meanwhile, aviation experts are still trying to unravel the enduring mystery of flight MH370, which disappeared on March 8.
Hope: A man returns a message posted along with
others in the shape of a heart which are dedicated to families and
passengers of MH370. Australian search teams still believe they may find
survivors
A woman writes a message to missing passengers
on a prayer board in the meeting room of Lido hotel where relatives are
staying in Beijing
MALAYSIA GRAND PRIX FORCES CHINESE MH370 RELATIVES OUT OF HOTEL
Chinese relatives of the passengers on MH370 have changed hotels to make way for crews arriving for the Malaysian grand prix.
Some Chinese family members who flew to the Southeast Asian nation to be closer to the heart of search operations had been staying at the Cyberview Resort & Spa near Kuala Lumpur, where they were engaged in what was at times an emotional struggle to elicit information from the government.
'The Chinese families were here, but they have already left. We are fully booked.
'There is no space because of Formula One,' a woman who answered the phone at the resort told Reuters.
She did not give her name and said she did not know where the families would be staying.
Malaysian officials said the families would be put up at another hotel.
On Wednesday, grief turned to anger when several family members unfurled a protest banner in front of a throng of journalists, demanding more information from the Malaysian government.
The ruckus prompted police to escort the relatives, including a distraught mother, away from the briefing room.
The grand prix is one of the biggest sporting events in Malaysia, when room rates at some hotels soar as drivers, their teams and sponsors travel to Kuala Lumpur for the weekend race.
Several foreign officials, investigators and journalists are also being forced by the event to move out of a hotel near the Kuala Lumpur international airport, which had become the ad hoc headquarters for coordinating search operations.
'We will be moving out of here because the F1 race is going to go on,' Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
Technicians are arriving well in advance of the March 30 race, which takes place about 10 minutes from the airport.
Some Chinese family members who flew to the Southeast Asian nation to be closer to the heart of search operations had been staying at the Cyberview Resort & Spa near Kuala Lumpur, where they were engaged in what was at times an emotional struggle to elicit information from the government.
'The Chinese families were here, but they have already left. We are fully booked.
'There is no space because of Formula One,' a woman who answered the phone at the resort told Reuters.
Chinese relatives of passengers on flight MH370
leave a resort in Cyberjaya, outside Kuala Lumpur. It is not known if
they are among those who have moved out of a hotel to make way for the
Malaysian Grand Prix
She did not give her name and said she did not know where the families would be staying.
Malaysian officials said the families would be put up at another hotel.
On Wednesday, grief turned to anger when several family members unfurled a protest banner in front of a throng of journalists, demanding more information from the Malaysian government.
The ruckus prompted police to escort the relatives, including a distraught mother, away from the briefing room.
The grand prix is one of the biggest sporting events in Malaysia, when room rates at some hotels soar as drivers, their teams and sponsors travel to Kuala Lumpur for the weekend race.
Several foreign officials, investigators and journalists are also being forced by the event to move out of a hotel near the Kuala Lumpur international airport, which had become the ad hoc headquarters for coordinating search operations.
'We will be moving out of here because the F1 race is going to go on,' Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
Technicians are arriving well in advance of the March 30 race, which takes place about 10 minutes from the airport.
The Orion reported that the fierce weather conditions which hampered Thursday's 10-hour sweep had vastly improved on Friday, though low cloud and rain would still pose a challenge for the growing search party that now includes 29 planes, 21 ships and six helicopters.
China stepped up its assistance in the search, sending three warships to join the expanding fleet. A fourth Chinese vessel, an icebreaker currently docked at Perth, may also join the search.
Five military aircraft including two Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P3 Orions were dispatched on a four-hour flight to the search zone.
Chinese and Malaysian officers joined a team of Australian, US and British investigators gathering in Perth, as the search party amassing in and off the Indian Ocean was receiving input from more than 20 contributor countries.
It comes as Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott acknowledged the distinct possibility, as flagged by AMSA yesterday, that the massive objects may not belong to the missing plane.
The area is renowned for shipping debris, so much so that it's dubbed 'the maritime dustbin'. There is a strong chance, therefore, that the objects in fact fell off a ship.
But he said the Australian-led search effort would continue to exhaust every avenue in the remote but hugely expansive search zone.
'We've been throwing everything we've got at that area to try and learn more about what this might be,' Mr Abbott said Friday.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said he
owed it to the families of everyone on board missing Malaysian Airlines
flight MH370 to exhaust every avenue in the southern search zone off the
coast of Perth
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.
Pictured: Satellite pictures released by the Australian Maritime Safety
Authority of the object thought to be related to the search for MH370
Space technology: The images of the objects were
taken on March 16 by U.S firm DigitalGlobe's WorldView-2 satellite - a
commercial satellite launched in 2009 that operates at an altitude of
770km (480miles)
Mr Abbott said: 'We owe it to the family and friends of loved ones on board MH370 that we do everything we can.'
A civil gulfstream jet was due to leave at approximately 1pm Perth time (7am GMT).
At 4pm, the giant US Navy Poseidon aircraft will fly on its second sortie to the remote target zone, which has been relocated 320km south of the original area, for a painstaking search of each square of a mapped grid of that section of ocean.
The Poseidon will make low swoops of the ocean and release buoys to measure the rate of ocean drift since the two objects hoped to be part of MH370 were spotted on satellite images yesterday at 11am (3am GMT).
Sergeant W Guthrie from the Royal Australian Air
Force examines a map to ascertain the possible whereabouts of the
debris spotted in the Indian Ocean yesterday
Royal Australian Air Force personnel are working
with the Australian Maritime Safety Authority to find missing Malaysia
Airlines flight MH370
The other 5m (15ft) piece lying just under the ocean surface is subject to tidal pull in an area which has huge waves and rapidly changeable weather.
The two RAAF Orions involved in the search each have a crew of 14 officers who are using both an electro acoustic system which sends a signal when it bounces off an object, and visual scans - through an open window of the plane.
The target area has 3km waters and is being described as 'one of the most hostile environments on earth'.
Authorities involved in the search of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 wasted no time in dispatching an arsenal of vehicles when the debris was spotted yesterday.
The satellite imagery depicted the objects as being 1,550 miles (4,000km) from Perth, off the west coast of Australia.
A long way south: The southern search zone is one of the most remote places on Earth
Vast: This Google Earth map shows just how remote the search area is in the southern Indian Ocean
Within
the hour, AMSA had coordinated the dispatch of 25 aircraft and 18 ships
to scour a vast 230,000 sq mile (600,000 sq km) area of ocean with the
seemingly-impossible task of locating the 24m-long debris –
approximately the same length as a standard tennis court.
The four aircrafts were assigned to a search area of 9,000 sq miles (23,000 sq km) – the size of the English Channel - but were called off ten hours later at 9pm (1pm GMT) due to poor lighting and visibility.
Norwegian car carrier, Hoegh St. Petersburg, which arrived late last night, continued searching during the dark.
This Orion aircraft is part of the Australian
Maritime Safety Authority-led search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370
in the southern Indian Ocean after two objects are found in the Indian
Ocean
Royal Australian Air Force pilot Flight
Lieutenant Russell Adams from 10 Squadron, flying his AP-3C Orion over
the Southern Indian Ocean during the search for missing Malaysian
Airlines flight MH370
Nine merchant ships that responded to a broadcast to shipping issued by AMSA on Monday night were also involved in the search yesterday.
A merchant ship that responded to a shipping broadcast arrived just after 6pm last night, well equipped to recover any objects located and proven to be from MH370.
Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Success is en route to the area but is still at least a day away from the target area.
HMS Echo is helping to search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370
Navy vessel HMAS Success is currently involved
in the pain-staking search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370,
believed to be in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Perth, Australia
All vessels were called off the search last night when the treacherous conditions worsened, but have since returned to the area, halfway between Australia and the Antarctic, this morning.
If they have a strong feeling or indication that the debris belongs to the aircraft, one of the first things authorities will do is drop sonar buoys in the water, officials said.
If the black box is there, the buoys should be able to pick up the signals.
The process could take up to 48 hours but it all depends on how near or far the ships and other assets are.
Black boxes emit emergency signals for about 30 days.
Meanwhile the team which led the exhaustive operation to recover Air France flight 447, after it crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, warned that it might take years to recover MH370's black box - if it can be recovered at all.
Rémi Jouty - head of the Office of Investigation and Analysis, France’s official air crash investigation centre, warned the mystery of what happened on doomed flight MH370 might never be unlocked.
The search zone some 2,500km off Perth is a much
larger area than was covered during sweep for the black box from the
2009 Air France flight 447 crash
Search teams working to recover the debris from the 2009 Air France crash, which plummeted into the Atlantic Ocean.
‘The only thing I can say is it will be most difficult and the recovery is not guaranteed,’ Remi Jouty, told the Financial Times.
The French bureau has dispatched a three-strong team of investigators to Malaysia to assist local authorities in retrieving the plane's black box recorder, which records sound along with logging the flight's data.
The search area for MH370 will be substantially larger than that of France Air flight 447, given the debris may have been drifting for days and there’s no way of knowing whether the plane’s black boxes are anywhere near the rest of the wreckage.
A glimpse if the frustration in such a painstaking search was given by New Zealand Air Commodore Mike Yardley, who reported his search officers were 'very deflated' after a Royal New Zealand Air Force team returned from its first run to the remote zone without a sighting.
'They are hugely committed to the cause,' Air Commodore Yardley said, according to the New Zealand Herald.
'Once you've flown on these P3 Orions for 20 years you take it very personally that you're trying to find this aircraft to help those people who are left behind.
'You feel that it's your responsibility, you're doing it to help people. It's not a job, it goes past a job when you're doing search and rescue.'
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