| Hindustan Times | - |
The
search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 could take years, a
US Naval Officer suggested on Sunday, as search and rescue officials
raced to locate the plane's black box recorder days before its batteries
are set to die.
Flight MH370 search could take years: US naval officer
Reuters
Perth/Kuala Lumpur, March 30, 2014
Perth/Kuala Lumpur, March 30, 2014
First Published: 12:03 IST(30/3/2014)
Last Updated: 22:04 IST(30/3/2014)
Last Updated: 22:04 IST(30/3/2014)
Family
members of those onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cry
at a hotel in Putrajaya. Malaysia Airlines said on Sunday it now feared
the worst for its missing plane carrying 239 people, more than a day
after it went missing, and was working with a US company that
specializes in disaster recovery. (Reuters)
The chief of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, He Jianzhong, told the Xinhua state news agency that the international effort had not found any objects linked to the plane on Sunday, and that Chinese vessels would expand their search area.
Pic: Thai satellite images. Credit: Thaichote
Wing Commander Rob Shearer looks through
binoculars on the flight deck of a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2
Orion aircraft during a search for the missing MH370 jet over the
southern Indian Ocean. (Reuters photo)
US Navy Captain Mark Matthews, who is in charge of the US Towed Pinger Locator (TPL), told journalists at Stirling Naval Base near Perth that the lack of information about where the plane went down seriously hampers the ability to find it.
"Right now the search area is basically the size of the Indian Ocean, which would take an untenable amount of time to search," he said.
"If you compare this to Air France flight 447, we had much better positional information of where that aircraft went into the water," he said, referring to a plane that crashed in 2009 near Brazil and which took more than two years to find.
Among the vessels to join the search is an Australian defence force ship, the Ocean Shield, that has been fitted with a sophisticated U.S. black box locator and an underwater drone.
Australia, which is coordinating the search in the southern Indian Ocean, said it had established a new body to oversee the investigation and issued countries involved in the search a set of protocols to abide by should any wreckage be found.
Malaysia says the plane, which disappeared less than an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, was likely diverted deliberately. Investigators have determined no apparent motive or other red flags among the 227 passengers or the 12 crew.
WEATHER THREATENS EXPANDED SEARCH
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said aircraft from China, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the United States were involved in the search on Sunday.
The search has involved unprecedented cooperation between more than two dozen countries and 60 aircraft and ships but has also been hampered by regional rivalries and an apparent reluctance to share potentially crucial information due to security concerns.
This week, Australia issued a set of rules and guidelines to all parties involved in the search, giving Malaysia authority over the investigation of any debris to be conducted on Australian soil, a spokeswoman at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Reuters.
"Australia intends to bring the wreckage ashore at Perth and hold it securely for the purposes of the Malaysian investigation," the spokeswoman said.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Sunday appointed a former chief of Australia's defence forces, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, to lead a new Joint Agency Coordination Centre(JACC).
The JACC will coordinate communication between all international partners as well as with the families of passengers, many of whom are expected to travel to Perth.
Chinese relatives of passengers onboard the
missing MH370 jet make their way to a meeting at the Holiday Villa in
Subang Jaya. (Reuters photo)
The Malaysian government has come under strong criticism from China, home to more than 150 of the passengers, where relatives of the missing have accused the government of "delays and deception".
On Sunday, dozens of angry relatives of Chinese passengers from Beijing met with Chinese embassy officials in Kuala Lumpur, piling more pressure on the Malaysian government over its handling of the case.
"We arrived here this morning with sorrow and anxiety, because the special envoy from Malaysia, the so called high-level tech team, did not give us any effective information in meetings that took place in three consecutive days," said Jiang Hui, a relative of one of the victims.
"We want the Malaysian government to apologise for giving out confusing information in the past week which caused the delay in the search and rescue effort."
A relative of a passenger onboard MH370 jet
is seen in a bus as he waits to leave for Beijing airport and take a
Malaysia Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur. (Reuters photo)
The Chinese ship Nan Hai Jiu in the southern Indian Ocean searching for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 jet. (AFP photo)
Flight MH370 search could take years: US naval officer
Reuters
Perth/Kuala Lumpur, March 30, 2014
Perth/Kuala Lumpur, March 30, 2014
First Published: 12:03 IST(30/3/2014)
Last Updated: 22:04 IST(30/3/2014)
Last Updated: 22:04 IST(30/3/2014)
Family
members of those onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cry
at a hotel in Putrajaya. Malaysia Airlines said on Sunday it now feared
the worst for its missing plane carrying 239 people, more than a day
after it went missing, and was working with a US company that
specializes in disaster recovery. (Reuters)
The chief of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, He Jianzhong, told the Xinhua state news agency that the international effort had not found any objects linked to the plane on Sunday, and that Chinese vessels would expand their search area.
Pic: Thai satellite images. Credit: Thaichote
Wing Commander Rob Shearer looks through
binoculars on the flight deck of a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2
Orion aircraft during a search for the missing MH370 jet over the
southern Indian Ocean. (Reuters photo)
US Navy Captain Mark Matthews, who is in charge of the US Towed Pinger Locator (TPL), told journalists at Stirling Naval Base near Perth that the lack of information about where the plane went down seriously hampers the ability to find it.
"Right now the search area is basically the size of the Indian Ocean, which would take an untenable amount of time to search," he said.
"If you compare this to Air France flight 447, we had much better positional information of where that aircraft went into the water," he said, referring to a plane that crashed in 2009 near Brazil and which took more than two years to find.
Among the vessels to join the search is an Australian defence force ship, the Ocean Shield, that has been fitted with a sophisticated U.S. black box locator and an underwater drone.
Australia, which is coordinating the search in the southern Indian Ocean, said it had established a new body to oversee the investigation and issued countries involved in the search a set of protocols to abide by should any wreckage be found.
Malaysia says the plane, which disappeared less than an hour into a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, was likely diverted deliberately. Investigators have determined no apparent motive or other red flags among the 227 passengers or the 12 crew.
WEATHER THREATENS EXPANDED SEARCH
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said aircraft from China, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and the United States were involved in the search on Sunday.
The search has involved unprecedented cooperation between more than two dozen countries and 60 aircraft and ships but has also been hampered by regional rivalries and an apparent reluctance to share potentially crucial information due to security concerns.
This week, Australia issued a set of rules and guidelines to all parties involved in the search, giving Malaysia authority over the investigation of any debris to be conducted on Australian soil, a spokeswoman at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Reuters.
"Australia intends to bring the wreckage ashore at Perth and hold it securely for the purposes of the Malaysian investigation," the spokeswoman said.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Sunday appointed a former chief of Australia's defence forces, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, to lead a new Joint Agency Coordination Centre(JACC).
The JACC will coordinate communication between all international partners as well as with the families of passengers, many of whom are expected to travel to Perth.
Chinese relatives of passengers onboard the
missing MH370 jet make their way to a meeting at the Holiday Villa in
Subang Jaya. (Reuters photo)
The Malaysian government has come under strong criticism from China, home to more than 150 of the passengers, where relatives of the missing have accused the government of "delays and deception".
On Sunday, dozens of angry relatives of Chinese passengers from Beijing met with Chinese embassy officials in Kuala Lumpur, piling more pressure on the Malaysian government over its handling of the case.
"We arrived here this morning with sorrow and anxiety, because the special envoy from Malaysia, the so called high-level tech team, did not give us any effective information in meetings that took place in three consecutive days," said Jiang Hui, a relative of one of the victims.
"We want the Malaysian government to apologise for giving out confusing information in the past week which caused the delay in the search and rescue effort."
A relative of a passenger onboard MH370 jet
is seen in a bus as he waits to leave for Beijing airport and take a
Malaysia Airlines flight to Kuala Lumpur. (Reuters photo)
The Chinese ship Nan Hai Jiu in the southern Indian Ocean searching for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 jet. (AFP photo)
No comments:
Post a Comment