Missing flight MH370: Search intensifies for vanished jet after floating objects sighted in Indian Ocean
Eight military aircraft and 11 ships are scouring remote waters west of Perth in Australia after suspected debris spotted
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Searching for missing Flight MH370 17th April
Although the underwater drone search has continued today, bad weather has stopped the air and sea surface search from going ahead.
Six weeks after the search moved from Asia to the Indian Ocean, authorities are now regrouping to decide how to proceed.
The Joint Agency Coordination Centre in charge said: "We are currently consulting very closely with our international partners on the best way to continue the search into the future."
Malaysia's former prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, had raised questions about the role of plane manufacturer Boeing in the disappearance of Flight MH370, and cast doubt on whether it crashed into the Indian Ocean.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Dr Mahathir asked why no oil slicks or debris have yet been found from the plane, and added: "The loss of the plane is due to the makers, Boeing. How can Boering produce a plane that is so easily disabled?"
Boeing, which has co-operated fully with Malaysia Airlines' investigation into MH370's disappearance and sent experts to work with the investigation team, has not responded to the comments.
The cause of MH370's disappearance is still not known.
This is the Malaysian transport minister Hishamuddin Hussein greeting Barack Obama in Kuala Lumpur today, ahead of their talks about MH370.
America president Barack Obama said this morning the US was fully committed to providing more assets to help in the search for MH370.
At a press conference during a visit to the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur he said: "I can tell you the United States is absolutely committed to providing whatever resources and assets that we can."
A US Navy underwater drone continued scanning a remote patch of the India Ocean today, but it's search has so far produced no clues.
President Obama has reasserted America's commitment to the search for Flight MH370 - as he begins his state visit to Malaysia.
Despite admitting an aircraft was detected, the Malaysian authorities say they do not know for certain whether or not it was the missing Malaysia Airways jet.
The Malaysia Government admitted yesterday that it's military radar had tracked an unidentified aircraft in the country's airspace at the time Flight MH370 lost contact with ground control.
The search operation has been given a boost by the sighting of objects floating in the Indian Ocean.
Could this be the first solid piece of evidence about the fate of Flight MH370?
Barack Obama has offered his support to the efforts to find MH370, according to the office of Malaysia's transport minister.
Ahead of his visit to the country later this week, the US president spoke to Hishammuddin Hussein.
Mr Hussein said: "Obama knows it's a tough, long road ahead. We'll work together, there is always support."
As well as the deep sea drone, the air and sea search continued today with up to eight military aircraft and 11 ships.
Meanwhile, Malaysia's transport minister has been meeting with those involved in the search to talk about the next phase of the operation.
If nothing is found during this mission, the Bluefin's search area is likely to be extended.
"If no contacts of interest are made, Bluefin-21 will continue to examine the areas adjacent to the 10km radius," Australia's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) in charge of the search said in a statement.
We have now entered the 50th day of the search for MH370.
The submarine drone Bluefin 21 has completed around 95% of its mission to scour at 10 sqaure jm area of the Indian Ocean seabed, but had to abort the search on Friday and resurface because of software malfunction.
Technicians fixed the drone overnight and its 14th, 16 hour trip to the sea floor at depths of more than 4.5 km (2.8 miles) was underway today.
But the U.S. official said Malaysia would have to decide how to proceed with the search, including whether to bring in more underwater drones, even with the understanding that the search could continue for years without a refined search area.
Authorities had identified the area as their strongest lead in determining the plane's final resting place after detecting what they suspected was a signal, or "ping", from the plane's black box recorder on April 4.
He said the search for the jetliner, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board, would now enter a much harder phase of scouring broader areas of the ocean near where the plane is believed to have crashed.
He said the search for the jetliner, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board, would now enter a much harder phase of scouring broader areas of the ocean near where the plane is believed to have crashed.
A senior US official, speaking under condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the search effort, said two weeks of scouring the Indian Ocean floor with a U.S. Navy submersible drone had turned up no wreckage.
The underwater search has so far focused on an area of sea bed within a 10km radius of where a 'ping' from an aircraft flight recorder was heard.
The Bluefin underwater probe has covered 95% of its initial search area in the Indian Ocean.
So far it has found no trace of missing flight MH370.
It has completed 14 missions so far.
Will it be sent out again?
After a US official was quoted as saying the search could take years - how much longer will the international effort continue?
Whatever happens, the torture for loved ones hoping for news of those aboard the missing jet will go on.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said he did not believe it when he first heard about the critical satellite data on which the current search in the Indian Ocean is based on.
“To be honest, I found it hard to believe. It’s a bizarre scenario which none of us could have contemplated so that’s why when I met the team of foremost experts in aviation industry I asked them again and again ‘are you sure?’
“Their answer to me was ‘we are as sure as we can possibly be.’"
RECAP
Here's a round-up of the events of day 48 of the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
- Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak pledged to release the preliminary report into the missing plane next week "in the name of transparency"
- He also revealed military radar tracked an unidentified plane shortly after MH370's disappearance
- Angry Chinese relatives of the passengers have staged a sit-in outside the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing, demanding they be given more information by the Malaysian government
- Malaysia airlines say 10 of their staff were detained and assaulted by angry family members in a Beijing hotel, yesterday.
- Australian authorities say the underwater drone searching for wreckage on the sea bed has scoured 95% of its 120-square-mile planned search area. They say they will move on to surrounding areas when the initial search is complete.
- Royal Navy submarine HMS Tireless has been stood down in its search for the missing plane.
- This morning there was a hijack scare in Indonesia, when a drunk passenger tried to get into the cockpit of a Virgin Australia flight to Bali.
- A senior US defence official said today the search for MH370 could drag on for 'years.'
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