The search area for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has shifted nearly 700 miles northeast after a 'new credible lead,' Australia officials said at a Friday press conference. Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, said the search has 'a long way to go yet.'
The shift marks another setback in the three-week search, which was bolstered in previous days by satellite images showing possible debris.
The shifting focus comes amid improved weather conditions, with 10 aircraft and six ships participating in today's search. One of the aircraft, a Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion, spotted objects today, Australia officials said, but the sightings need confirmation by ship.
New information from Malaysian officials led to the change, Australian officials said. The new search area is about 1,150 miles west of Perth.
Further analysis of radar data revealed the plane was traveling faster than previously estimated, resulting in it burning more fuel and shortening the distance it could have traveled south into the Indian Ocean, officials said.
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AMSA General Director John Young defended previous search efforts in the southern Indian Ocean, which have involved crews from six countries.
'This actually happens to us all the time,' he said of the re-focused search. 'New information will emerge out of sequence with the investigation itself.'
Three weeks of weather and currents have added difficulty to the search, Young said.
'There will be a significant amount of random dispersion of objects,' Young said, 'so the search area steadily gets bigger with time.'
At Malaysia's daily press briefing, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said refined data from a satellite belonging to Inmarsat, a British company - pieced together with radar information and aircraft performance assumptions - led authorities to alter the search.
So far, satellite images from Japan, Thailand, China and France have spotted objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean, but none of the objects have been recovered or connected to the doomed plane.
'Because of ocean drift, this new search area could still be consistent with the potential objects identified by various satellite images over the past week,' Hishammuddin said, reading from a prepared statement.
'With each step, we get closer to understanding MH370's flight path.'
The jetliner was carrying 239 people when it disappeared March 8.
Relatives of the passengers remain devastated. Malaysia Airlines group chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya addressed the tragedy in a separate statement today.
'Ever since the disappearance of Flight MH370, Malaysia Airlines' focus has been to comfort and support the families of those involved and support the multi-national search effort. We will continue to do this, while we also continue to support the work of the investigating authorities,' the statement reads.
Posted by Unknown on Friday, March 28, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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