The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Search finds possible debris
A FRENCH satellite scanning the Indian Ocean for remnants of a missing plane have found a possible plane debris field containing 122 objects.
A top Malaysian official called it “the most credible lead that we have” in the search for missing Malaysian A irlines Flight 370.
Defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein also expressed exasperation with the anger rising among missing passengers’ relatives in China, who berated Malaysian government and airline officials earlier in the day in Beijing.
A bout two-thirds of the missing are Chinese, but Mr Hishammuddin pointedly said that Chinese families “must also understand that we in Malaysia also lost our loved ones” as did “so many other nations”.
Eighteen days into the search for Flight 370, the latest satellite images are the first to suggest that a debris field from the plane, rather than just a few objects, may be floating in the southern Indian Ocean, although no wreckage has been confirmed.
Previously, an A ustralian satellite detected two large objects and a Chinese satellite detected one.
A ll three finds were made in roughly the same area, far south-west of A ustralia, where a desperate, multinational hunt has been going on for days.
Clouds obscured the latest satellite images but dozens of objects could be seen in the gaps, ranging in length from one yard or metre to 25 yards (23m).
At a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, Mr Hishammuddin said some of them “appeared to be bright, possibly indicating solid materials”. The images were taken on Sunday and relayed by French-based A irbus Defence and Space, a division of Europe’s A irbus Group.
The company said in a statement that it has mobilised five observation satellites, including two that can produce very high resolution images, to help locate the plane.