Latest on Missing Malaysian Plane

Australian security expert Neil Fergus says that if the two objects found ARE from flight MH370, it must have been flown there deliberately


A specialist has suggested that the location of the possible debris from missing flight MH370 means it COULD NOT have got there without human intervention.
Australian security expert Neil Fergus says there is no way the missing Malaysian Airlines plane could have got to the location now being searched of its own accord.
Speaking on Australia's Channel 9 he also ruled out a catastrophic malfunction, suggesting the plane couldn't have made it all the way to an area south west of Perth simply due to any kind of fault.
Mr Fergus told the channel the only way the plane could have made it that far from its original flight path was by human hand, be it by one or both of the pilots, or passengers.
"If this debris does turn out to be the missing MH370 then, given its location, we can definitely rule out technical malfunction," he said.
"There is no way with (some) sort of technical calamity or fire that it could have travelled to where it appears to be. It would - in the first instance confirm - human intervention."
The comments come in the wake of news earlier today that two objects have been spotted in a remote part of the the Indian Ocean - and that they could be debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.
Four military search planes have now been dispatched to take a closer look at the objects, one of which had a dimension of 24 metres (82 feet).
There could be other objects in waters nearby in the area that is a four-hour flight from Australia's coast, said John Young, manager of Australian Maritime Safety Authority's emergency response division.
"This is a lead, it's probably the best lead we have right now," he said, while cautioning that the objects could also be seaborne debris along a key shipping route where containers periodically fall off cargo vessels.

Mr Young told a news conference in Canberra, Australia's capital, that planes had been sent to the area about 1,550 miles south-west of Perth to check on the objects.
He said that satellite images "do not always turn out to be related to the search even if they look good, so we will hold our views on that until they are sighted close-up".
Australian prime minister Tony Abbott had earlier told Parliament about the debris, and said Orion search aircraft were expected to arrive in the area later today.
He said that a Royal Australian Airforce Orion has been diverted to the area to attempt to locate the objects.
The Orion is expected to arrive in the area later today. Three additional aircraft were expected to follow for a more intensive search.
Mr Abbott cautioned, however, that the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and "it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370".
Mr Young said visibility was poor and may hamper efforts to find the objects.
He said: "They are relatively indistinct on the imagery ... but those who are experts indicate they are credible sightings.
"The indication to me is of objects that are a reasonable size and probably awash with water, moving up and down over the surface."
He warned against expectations that this may help solve the mystery of the plane that went missing with 239 people on board.
He told reporters, "We have been in this business of doing search and rescue and using sat images before and they do not always turn out to be related to the search even if they look good, so we will hold our views on that until they are sighted close-up."
Military planes from Australia, the US and New Zealand have been covering a search region over the southern Indian Ocean that was narrowed down from 232,000 square miles to 117,000 square miles.
There is also a real possibility that the objects could have drifted away from the area by now as the satellite images are dated a few days ago.
The time stamp on the images is March 16. Add that to the fearsome open ocean currents and the debris could now be some distance away from where it was originally spotted.
The hunt for the Boeing 777 has been punctuated by several false leads since it disappeared March 8 above the Gulf of Thailand.
Oil slicks that were spotted did not contain jet fuel. A yellow object thought to be from the plane turned out to be a piece of sea trash. Chinese satellite images showed possible plane debris, but nothing was found.
But this is the first time that possible objects have been spotted since the search area was massively expanded into two corridors, one stretching from northern Thailand into Central Asia and the other from the Strait of Malacca down to southern reaches of the Indian Ocean.
Australia's envoy to Malaysia, Rod Smith, joined a meeting of senior Malaysia search officials at a Kuala Lumpur hotel after Mr Abbott's announcement.
"As I've been doing from day one, I've followed every single lead. And this time, I hope it is a positive development," Malaysian defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters.
Flight 370 disappeared on March 8 on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation, but have said the evidence so far suggests the flight was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.
Investigators have identified two giant arcs of territory spanning the possible positions of the plane about seven-and-a-half hours after take-off, based on its last faint signal to a satellite - an hourly "handshake" signal that continues even when communications are switched off.
The arcs stretch up as far as Kazakhstan in central Asia and down deep into the southern Indian Ocean.
Police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board, and have asked for background checks from abroad on all foreign passengers.
But John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority warned against expectations that this may help solve the mystery of the plane that went missing with 239 people on board.
He told reporters: "We have been in this business of doing search and rescue and using sat images before and they do not always turn out to be related to the search even if they look good, so we will hold our views on that until they are sighted close-up

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sheer delight! Blurred Lines star Emily Ratajkowski makes beige underwear sexy in saucy new GQ shoot

Exclusive! Who's pulling the purse strings at your club? The club-by-club to those really in charge in the Premier League

10 facts about Obesity that will amaze you!