Conditions hamper search for missing flight debris

Poor visibility is hampering the hunt in the southern Indian Ocean for possible debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight spotted on satellite imagery, officials warned yesterday, as military aircraft and ships raced to the scene.

Malaysia’s transport minister described the pictures, which showed objects estimated to be between five and 24 metres long, as a credible lead in the 12-day search for flight MH370 and said work would continue overnight.

Australian and US aircraft dispatched to the area – about 2,500km southwest of Perth – have yet to locate the items, which were detected in images captured four days ago. The captain of the first Australian air force AP-3C Orion plane to return from the search area described the weather conditions as extremely bad, with rough seas and high winds, and said there was no sign of any objects. A US Poseidon P-8 aircraft also drew a blank, American media reported.

Commercial vessel
A Norwegian commercial vessel diverted its journey from Madagascar to Melbourne and has reached the area, and three more Australian aircraft were on their way to the scene.

Despite the inconclusive results of the initial aerial search, Australia's prime minister, Tony Abbott – who revealed the satellite image analysis earlier yesterday – said the discovery could be a major breakthrough.

“We don’t know what that satellite saw until we can get a much better, much closer look at it but this is the first tangible breakthrough in what up till now has been an utterly baffling mystery,” Mr Abbott said.

Australian defence minister David Johnston appeared more circumspect, however. “Expectations will obviously be built. I want to say let’s just be patient and try and find out what this satellite reference is,” he said.

“[The southern Indian Ocean] is an extraordinarily remote part of the world . . . This is a very difficult logistical problem. We’re several days away, I think, from really having an idea of the credibility and veracity of this report.”

Prof Alexander Babanin, director of the Centre for Ocean Engineering, Science and Technology at Swinburne University of Technology in Australia, said the search was taking place in an area of deep ocean and strong currents, where waves can reach up to six metres in stormy weather.

He noted that floating debris could have been carried 100km from their position in the satellite photographs.

Fragments could be spread over 50km or so, and material suspended beneath the surface could be carried perhaps even further, because ocean currents can be stronger than wave-induced currents, he said.

MH370 vanished shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur early on March 8th with 239 people on board. Officials have said they believe it was deliberately diverted from its route to Beijing, but have not ruled out a catastrophic event.

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s transport minister, said of the possible debris: “Any leads that we receive must be corroborated and verified, because if found false not only will it jeopardise our search but it will give false hope to the families.”

Analysis of satellite data
He said the search was continuing in both the northern and southern search arcs delineated by analysis of satellite data, which sweep north to Kazakhstan and down to the southern Indian Ocean, across 2.24m square nautical miles of land and sea.

He said he regretted the forcible removal of Chinese family members angry at the lack of information from Wednesday’s press conference.

Paul Yin, a psychologist who has been supporting families of people on board the aircraft, said: “The hardest thing for the relatives is the long term uncertainty. It tortures them . . . After the first five to six days, some of the relatives started to accept it, but some of them still hold out hope.”

When Air France flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic in 2009 the first pieces of debris were spotted within a few days, but most of the wreckage and the flight data and cockpit recorders were not found until almost two years later. David Gallo of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, who co-led the search for that aircraft, said the hunt for MH370 need not be so protracted.

The cockpit voice recorder records only the last two hours of audio before a crash, while in the case of MH370, the aircraft may have flown for hours after the critical events took place.

"But there will be other clues, if the plane is treated as a crime scene. We never know what we will find," said Mr Gallo. – ( Guardian service)