Below are updates and the latest coverage from various sources and news agencies, as we enter Day 13 of the search and rescue operations:
5.35pm: Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein holds the daily briefing and press conference.
Highlights from the briefing:
4.46pm: Here are views of experts interviewed by AFP regarding the new sighting.
Anthony Brickhouse, associate professor of aerospace and occupational safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the United States:
"If you remember about a week ago the Chinese put out information that they have picked up information that they have picked up something on satellite and everybody got really excited about it and it turned out to be nothing.
"This seems a little more credible than what the Chinese found but until they can actually get down there and identify the wreckage as being part of MH370 we really don't know yet."
David Kaminski-Morrow, air transport editor, Flight International:
"It's the best lead simply because, with so little information, it's effectively the only lead. The key issue initially will be ensuring that the items seen can be located by search teams capable of making a closer examination.
"While a timeframe is hard to estimate, the inquiry needs to conduct its assessment as quickly as possible because the ocean is constantly shifting and, should the debris be significant, every hour of drift adds uncertainty to position data."
Andrew Herdman, director-general, Association of Asia Pacific Airlines:
"I think it is quite significant that they decided to release the information through a statement from Prime Minister Abbott, they obviously think it is important and credible.
"But both the prime minister and Dr John Young exercised great caution not wanting the public to draw too much from the information. Young has significant experience in search and rescue, and if he is cautious, I think we have to be as well
"They keep talking about images from satellite but John Young used the word 'blob', meaning the image may not be high resolution."
4.26pm: The New Straits Times reports that Australia's AP-3C Orion plane is the first to reach the scene.
Also, it states that Malaysian authorities are to hold a briefing for families of Flight MH370 passengers and crew later today at Cyberview Lodge in Cyberjaya.
4.25pm: BBC quotes Air Vice Marshal Kevin Short, overseeing New Zealand's search efforts, stating that their aircraft will carry out a radar and visual search.
"They will be flying at about 1,000ft (300metres) above sea level... Whatever imagery is actually taken will be sent back to the rescue coordination centre for analysis."
4.22pm: David Gallo, the US project leader in the search for a missing Air France flight in 2009, says based on the descriptions provided by officials, the discovery is sounding increasingly like a debris field.
While debris would typically scatter, he states that ocean experts who study wind and waves have told him there is a pocket in the search area that has been fairly calm over the past few days, making it possible for the debris to have stuck closer together.
According to CBC News, Gallo also predicts it could turn out to be a piece of the plane's wing or fuselage.
Assuming that the debris is that of MH370, Gallo says: "It sounds like the plane was landed fairly gently. It wasn’t nose-dived into the surface of the ocean, if it is in fact the plane."
4pm: Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak tweets that he is meeting with Chief of Defence Forces Mohd Zulkifeli Mohd Zin after receiving a call by Australian counterpart Tony Abbott about the possible sighting of MH370 debris.
3.55pm: The US Navy has clarifies that the radar hits reported by ABC reporter is most probably not linked to the two objects detected by satellite earlier today, but normal radar returns.
3:48pm: An oceanographer quoted by Sydney Morning Heraldsays attempt to recover the black box could prove to be “extremely difficult” as only ships and underwater vehicles can do the job of recover any wreckage, if there.
This is complicated by the fact that, according to Chari Pattiaratchi of the University of Western Australia, that the debris had been located close to the a place known as "Roaring Forties", one of the roughest part of the world.
Read more here.
3.30pm: ABC reports that a US plane heading towards the site where the Australian government says satellite detected two objects, is getting radar hits of "significant size".
Its reporter David Wright, who is on board the US Navy P-8 Poseidon, reports that this indicates there is indeed something below the water’s surface of the southern Indian Ocean.
It is yet, however, uncertain if these objects are part of the missing Boeing 777.
2.54pm: The Australian Department of Defence releases the satellite images of the two objects spotted, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
1.37pm: Reuters releases the basic dimensions of the Boeing 777-200ER, used for MAS Flight MH370, as search teams rush to the location where satellite detected two floating objects off Western Australia.
12.50pm: According to the Herald Sun of Mebourne, the satellite images were captured in the vicinity of the search area as defined by the search in past two days.
“The imagery was assessed by experts this morning who deemed it to be ‘credible’.
One of the objects is up to 24 metres in length, Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) general manager John Young says today.
“The indication to me is of objects that are of reasonable size and awash with water, bobbing up and down on the surface.”
Young says the objects were much larger than a basketball.
“The largest image I’ve seen is assessed as being about 24m.
“And a number of other images in the general area,” he adds
The objects seen on satellite radar are “possible indications of debris” about 2,500km south-west of Perth, south of the search area.
12.40pm: Precision Manuals Development Group (PMDG) Solutions, the company that designed the flight simulator used by Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah, denies that the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 pilot was involved in the development and testing of its PMDG 777-200LR/F product line.
Is it uncertain if this product referred to by company CEO Robert S Randazzo in a statement is the same as that seized by the pilot home recently.
"Our community appears to have lost one of our own by virtue of the fact that he was also an accomplished Boeing 777 captain flying for a well-respected airline," he says.
Adding that Zaharie was also well known within the flight simulation company, he warns the public against making any conjecture to the effect his flight simulation hobby could have played a role in the disappearance of MH370.
He describes such conjecture as "insulting to those who wear or have worn the stripes of a flight captain".
12.00pm: PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim tells CNN that Malaysia had purchased a radar system during his tenure as finance minister, which should have been able to spot MH370.
“They had the capability to detect any flight from the west - or from the east to the west coast, from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean,” he says.
Anwar, who says he had met the flight’s captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah before, also defended him by saying that the pilot is against any form of extremism.
Read the story in fullhere.
11.29am: Australian PM Tony Abbott announces that satellite imagery has picked up two objects of Western Australia, in the south Indian Ocean.
He says, according to BBC News Asia, that the aircrafts have been diverted to the location to determine if they are indeed related to missing Flight MH370.
10.30am: A simple US$10 (RM32) computer upgrade could have provided critical information which could have aided the search for missing Flight MH370, says a New Zealand media report.
Alas, according to news site Stuff, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) chose not to purchase the upgrade, which a satellite industry official says could have provided investigators with the plane’s direction, speed and altitude even after other communications from the plane was lost.
10.10am: CNN reports that Malaysia has given Indian authorities new search coordinates in the southern Indian Ocean.
However, they do not reveal the coordinates.
9.40am: United States' President Barack Obama assures that locating missing MH370 is the US' "top priority".
His first time speaking publicly about the crisis, he tells an American radio station yesterday that the country has placed every available resource at the disposal of the search and rescue operations, and have been working closely with the Malaysian government, reports the Time.
5.50am: US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials are helping the Malaysian government analyse data from the home-made flight simulator taken from missing pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s home.
Reuters reports that FBI is also looking at electronic data generated by both Zaharie and his co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, besides that from the simultor, such as from electronic media used by the latter.
Read full report here.
Background:
Highlights from the briefing:
- Search operations will continue in both southern and northern corridors, until it is confirmed that debris from the plane is found.
- Says he can confirm Malaysia will send two aircraft to Kazakhstan while UK is sending a ship to the northern corridor.
- High-level team will leave for Beijing today.
- He says while there is a "credible lead", it still needs to be verified, and while there is a lead, there is hope.
4.46pm: Here are views of experts interviewed by AFP regarding the new sighting.
Anthony Brickhouse, associate professor of aerospace and occupational safety at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the United States:
"If you remember about a week ago the Chinese put out information that they have picked up information that they have picked up something on satellite and everybody got really excited about it and it turned out to be nothing.
"This seems a little more credible than what the Chinese found but until they can actually get down there and identify the wreckage as being part of MH370 we really don't know yet."
David Kaminski-Morrow, air transport editor, Flight International:
"It's the best lead simply because, with so little information, it's effectively the only lead. The key issue initially will be ensuring that the items seen can be located by search teams capable of making a closer examination.
"While a timeframe is hard to estimate, the inquiry needs to conduct its assessment as quickly as possible because the ocean is constantly shifting and, should the debris be significant, every hour of drift adds uncertainty to position data."
Andrew Herdman, director-general, Association of Asia Pacific Airlines:
"I think it is quite significant that they decided to release the information through a statement from Prime Minister Abbott, they obviously think it is important and credible.
"But both the prime minister and Dr John Young exercised great caution not wanting the public to draw too much from the information. Young has significant experience in search and rescue, and if he is cautious, I think we have to be as well
"They keep talking about images from satellite but John Young used the word 'blob', meaning the image may not be high resolution."
4.26pm: The New Straits Times reports that Australia's AP-3C Orion plane is the first to reach the scene.
Also, it states that Malaysian authorities are to hold a briefing for families of Flight MH370 passengers and crew later today at Cyberview Lodge in Cyberjaya.
4.25pm: BBC quotes Air Vice Marshal Kevin Short, overseeing New Zealand's search efforts, stating that their aircraft will carry out a radar and visual search.
"They will be flying at about 1,000ft (300metres) above sea level... Whatever imagery is actually taken will be sent back to the rescue coordination centre for analysis."
4.22pm: David Gallo, the US project leader in the search for a missing Air France flight in 2009, says based on the descriptions provided by officials, the discovery is sounding increasingly like a debris field.
While debris would typically scatter, he states that ocean experts who study wind and waves have told him there is a pocket in the search area that has been fairly calm over the past few days, making it possible for the debris to have stuck closer together.
According to CBC News, Gallo also predicts it could turn out to be a piece of the plane's wing or fuselage.
Assuming that the debris is that of MH370, Gallo says: "It sounds like the plane was landed fairly gently. It wasn’t nose-dived into the surface of the ocean, if it is in fact the plane."
4pm: Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak tweets that he is meeting with Chief of Defence Forces Mohd Zulkifeli Mohd Zin after receiving a call by Australian counterpart Tony Abbott about the possible sighting of MH370 debris.
3.55pm: The US Navy has clarifies that the radar hits reported by ABC reporter is most probably not linked to the two objects detected by satellite earlier today, but normal radar returns.
3:48pm: An oceanographer quoted by Sydney Morning Heraldsays attempt to recover the black box could prove to be “extremely difficult” as only ships and underwater vehicles can do the job of recover any wreckage, if there.
This is complicated by the fact that, according to Chari Pattiaratchi of the University of Western Australia, that the debris had been located close to the a place known as "Roaring Forties", one of the roughest part of the world.
Read more here.
3.30pm: ABC reports that a US plane heading towards the site where the Australian government says satellite detected two objects, is getting radar hits of "significant size".
Its reporter David Wright, who is on board the US Navy P-8 Poseidon, reports that this indicates there is indeed something below the water’s surface of the southern Indian Ocean.It is yet, however, uncertain if these objects are part of the missing Boeing 777.
2.54pm: The Australian Department of Defence releases the satellite images of the two objects spotted, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.
1.37pm: Reuters releases the basic dimensions of the Boeing 777-200ER, used for MAS Flight MH370, as search teams rush to the location where satellite detected two floating objects off Western Australia.
- Wing span - 60.9 metres
- Overall length - 63.7 metres
- Tail Height - 18.5 metres
- Fuselage Diameter - 6.19 metres
- Each wing - 27.4 metres (estimated)
12.50pm: According to the Herald Sun of Mebourne, the satellite images were captured in the vicinity of the search area as defined by the search in past two days.“The imagery was assessed by experts this morning who deemed it to be ‘credible’.
One of the objects is up to 24 metres in length, Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) general manager John Young says today.
“The indication to me is of objects that are of reasonable size and awash with water, bobbing up and down on the surface.”Young says the objects were much larger than a basketball.
“The largest image I’ve seen is assessed as being about 24m.
“And a number of other images in the general area,” he adds
The objects seen on satellite radar are “possible indications of debris” about 2,500km south-west of Perth, south of the search area.
12.40pm: Precision Manuals Development Group (PMDG) Solutions, the company that designed the flight simulator used by Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah, denies that the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 pilot was involved in the development and testing of its PMDG 777-200LR/F product line.
Is it uncertain if this product referred to by company CEO Robert S Randazzo in a statement is the same as that seized by the pilot home recently.
"Our community appears to have lost one of our own by virtue of the fact that he was also an accomplished Boeing 777 captain flying for a well-respected airline," he says.
Adding that Zaharie was also well known within the flight simulation company, he warns the public against making any conjecture to the effect his flight simulation hobby could have played a role in the disappearance of MH370.
He describes such conjecture as "insulting to those who wear or have worn the stripes of a flight captain".
12.00pm: PKR de facto leader Anwar Ibrahim tells CNN that Malaysia had purchased a radar system during his tenure as finance minister, which should have been able to spot MH370.“They had the capability to detect any flight from the west - or from the east to the west coast, from the South China Sea to the Indian Ocean,” he says.
Anwar, who says he had met the flight’s captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah before, also defended him by saying that the pilot is against any form of extremism.
Read the story in fullhere.
11.29am: Australian PM Tony Abbott announces that satellite imagery has picked up two objects of Western Australia, in the south Indian Ocean.
He says, according to BBC News Asia, that the aircrafts have been diverted to the location to determine if they are indeed related to missing Flight MH370.
10.30am: A simple US$10 (RM32) computer upgrade could have provided critical information which could have aided the search for missing Flight MH370, says a New Zealand media report.
Alas, according to news site Stuff, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) chose not to purchase the upgrade, which a satellite industry official says could have provided investigators with the plane’s direction, speed and altitude even after other communications from the plane was lost.
10.10am: CNN reports that Malaysia has given Indian authorities new search coordinates in the southern Indian Ocean.
However, they do not reveal the coordinates.
9.40am: United States' President Barack Obama assures that locating missing MH370 is the US' "top priority".
His first time speaking publicly about the crisis, he tells an American radio station yesterday that the country has placed every available resource at the disposal of the search and rescue operations, and have been working closely with the Malaysian government, reports the Time.
5.50am: US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials are helping the Malaysian government analyse data from the home-made flight simulator taken from missing pilot Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah’s home.Reuters reports that FBI is also looking at electronic data generated by both Zaharie and his co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid, besides that from the simultor, such as from electronic media used by the latter.
Read full report here.
Background:
- MAS flight MH370 went missing, en route to Beijing, not long after taking off from KL International Airport in the early hours of March 8, with 12 crew members and 227 passengers.
- Its whereabout remains a mystery as 26 countries race to locate the missing plane, believed to be either in the nothern corridor, anywhere between Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, or in the southern corridor covering Indonesia and to the south of the India Ocean.
- This comes after the authorities determined that the plane intentionally made a turn-back and altered its course.
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