Analysis suggests new search areas for Flight 370

Images of ocean debris could revive 3- year- old hunt for downed airliner

Satellite images of debris floating in the Indian Ocean two weeks after the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could revive the 3- year- old search in a new area, according to a scientific analysis released Wednesday.

An Australian official from the agency that led the search with Malaysia and China cautioned that the debris might not be from a plane, even if it is man- made.

“Clearly, we must be cautious,” Greg Hood, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said in a statement.

Aziz Kaprawi, Malaysia’s deputy transport minister, told the Associated Press that the depart ment would need to evaluate the information because it’s based on satellite images from a few years ago.

“We will need to verify the data to see if it’s credible before we make any decision,” he said.

Malaysia Flight 370 disappeared March 8, 2014, with 239 people aboard during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Pieces of the jet washed up on islands in the Indian Ocean and along the coast of Africa.

Based on satellite data and an analysis of how the pieces might have floated away from the crash site, searchers spent $ 160 million and nearly three years combing an area of ocean floor the size of Pennsylvania, about 46,000 square miles.

The governments of Australia, Malaysia and China agreed in January to suspend the search until more credible evidence is found to locate the aircraft wreckage.

Ocean Infinity, a seabed exploration company based in Houston, offered last week to launch a private search in exchange for an unspecified reward if it found the main wreckage. The company didn’t detail why it thought it would be successful where the three governments have failed.

Aziz said Wednesday that the offer was being negotiated, but there were monetary terms unacceptable to the government.

The scientific finding released Wednesday is based on a government analysis of French military satellite images gathered March 23, 2014. Satellite experts at Geoscience Australia weren’t asked to analyze the images until March 2017.

The debris appears to be man- made but not necessarily from Malaysia’s Boeing 777.

“This might be a really good clue. It might be a red herring,” said David Griffin, an oceanographer with the Australian science agency CSIRO, which analyzed the pictures. “But if you are going to search, then you’d be silly to ignore this potential clue.”