MH370: objects spotted in revised search zone ” MH370 search shifts closer to Australia – live

• MH370: objects spotted in revised search zone

  
  Live Follow updates on hunt for wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 as Australia shifts focus of search
  
  
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    “Five search aircraft have spotted several objects of various colours during Friday’s operation in the revised search zone, the Australian Maritime and…” MH370 search shifts closer to Australia – live
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  MH370: 'multiple objects' spotted in new search zone – live updates

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  • Five aircraft spot 'multiple objects' in new search zone
  • Photographs of objects being analysed
  • New search area based on recalculation of plane's speed
  • Revised zone increases search flight time
  • Doubt over satellite images of potential debris further south
  • Relatives to be offered flights to Perth if wreckage is found
  • Read the latest summary
  • 
  • • Matthew Weaver
    • 
      
    • theguardian.com, Friday 28 March 2014 13.16 GMT

  

  A Malaysian official briefs relatives of missing Chinese passengers on the new search zone closer to Australia after various satellite sightings this week. Photograph: Ng Han Guan/AP

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  10m ago

  Five search aircraft spot objects

  Five search aircraft have spotted several objects of various colours during Friday’s operation in the revised search zone, the Australian Maritime and Safety Authority has revealed.
  In a new statement it said the search had finished for today after 256,00 square kilometers were sureyed. Photographic evidence is being analysed. The statement added:
  

  The objects cannot be verified or discounted as being from MH370 until they are relocated and recovered by ships.
  A Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3 Orion reported sighting a number of objects white or light in colour and a fishing buoy.
  A Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion relocated the objects detected by the RNZAF Orion and reported it had seen two blue/grey rectangular objects floating in the ocean.
  A second RAAF P3 Orion spotted various objects of various colours in a separate part of the search area about 546 kilometres away.
  A total of ten planes were tasked by AMSA in today’s search and all have now departed the search area.
  AMSA has tasked Chinese Maritime Administration patrol ship, Haixun 01, which is in the search area and will be in a position to relocate the objects on Saturday.
  Friday’s search area was shifted north after international air crash investigators in Malaysia provided the latest credible lead available to AMSA.
  This was on the advice of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB).
  Weather conditions in the area are expected to be reasonable for searching on Saturday.

  39m ago

  The sheer volume of potentially misleading satellite imagery of possible objects in the southern Indian Ocean could be hampering the search, according to a leading oceanographer.
  Dr. Simon Boxall from the University of Southampton, also cast doubt on the "objects" claimed to have been spotted in some of the recently released satellite images.
  In an email to my colleague Louis Degenhardt, he said:
  

  The burgeoning number of prospective satellite sightings could now detract from the main search objectives, to locate (any) confirmed surface debris from a Boeing 777.
  Take the Thai image as a good example which supposedly shows several hundred "targets" in a small area. As someone who has analysed optical images of the oceans for many years, all but two to three of these objects are likely to be sea-foam and wave breaking.
  This image was taken at a time of high winds and the pattern is consistent with hundreds I've seen over the years. It is also important to emphasise that the ocean is sadly full of debris from many sources which moves rapidly in this region of fast flowing and complex currents.
  The fact that no confirmed sightings have been made from aircraft or ships in the original area lends support to a shift in focus.

  

  Satellite images provided by Thailand's Geo Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency show floating "objects" in the Indian Ocean. Photograph: Xinhua/Landov/Barcroft Media

  On the new shift in search area, Boxall commented:
  

  The only known is the approximate last known location of MH370 based on the Inmarsat data analysis, which is correct beyond all reasonable doubt. I don't know the source and logistic of the new data that the aircraft was travelling faster (and hence using more fuel) than previously thought but the limit of the flight path of MH370 will be determined by fuel capacity.
  On this basis the new search does make sense, though the limited information about the sea floor in the region does mean that the topography of the area is more mountainous, making subsequent sonar searches more difficult.
  However it is viewed, the challenges in ever finding the wreck and black box of MH370 grow with each day that passes.

  Updated 38m ago
  1h 3m ago

  Here's video of today's media briefing in Kuala Lumpur.
  

  Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's acting transport minister, says the search area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been moved 683 miles north. New analysis shows the plane was travelling faster and using more fuel than was previously thought. International aircraft and ships have been directed to the new area

  1h 6m ago

  An oceanographer has told the Guardian that Malaysia is "incorrect" to suggest that wreckage could have drifted hundreds of miles south-west of the revised assumed crash site.
  Malaysia's transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said satellite images of objects could be consistent with the new search zone.
  But this was challenged by Charitha Pattiaratchi, Winthrop professor of coastal oceanography at the University of Western Australia.
  In an email to my colleague Louis Degenhardt,he said:
  

  I just heard that they had announced in Malaysia - in a press briefing that there is a connection between the site in the Southern Ocean and the new search area.
  
  This is hearsay - they had claimed that the debris identified by the Chinese, French and Thai satellites may have originated from the new search area and is consistent with the shift to the new region.
  If they said this - it is incorrect !
  There is absolutely no connection, in terms of the debris between the two locations which are 1000 km apart.
  
  In the southern location the debris was moving eastward and were trapped in eddies.

  Professor Pattiaratchi provided chart showing debris tracks from the new search area.
  He explained:
  

  The colours represent those originating from the same colour point along the aircraft track. The square is the the current proposed search area.
  The red square at towards the bottom shows the southern search area.

  

  Ocean drift patterns Photograph: University of Western Australia

  

  Ocean drift patterns Photograph: /University of Western Australia

  Updated 58m ago
  1h 20m ago

  Before they walked out of that briefing in Beijing, relatives of the lost passengers were shown a helpful looking slide on the new search area in the context of various satellite sightings of potential debris.
  

  

  Ahmad Nizar Zolfakar, director of air traffic management at Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation, briefs relatives of Chinese passengers on the missing plane. He showed a slide showing a new search area announced by Australia. Photograph: Ng Han Guan/AP

  1h 47m ago

  Here's a summary of the main developments:
  

  • A New Zealand search aircraft has reported spotting objects in a revised search area which has become the new focus of the hunt for the wreckage of MH370. The Australian Maritime and Safety Authority said it was awaiting images from the Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion, which was on its way back to base. The objects are unlikely to be relocated by ship until Saturday.

  • The search zone has shifted almost 700 miles closer to Australia after investigators calculated the plane was going faster and using more fuel when it disappeared than previously thought. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the analysis was based on the plane's final radar contacts and suggested the plane would have burned more fuel in the opening stages of its flight.

  • It is unclear whether potential debris spotted by satellite images earlier this week hundreds of miles further south-west, could have drifted from the revised assumed crash site. Malaysia said ocean drift meant the satellite could be consistent with the new area, but Australia played down the satellite sightings, saying the search had "moved-on".

  • The UK's Air Accident Investigation's Board, which helped Malaysia to calculate that MH370 had crashed into the Indian Ocean, has defended its decision not to brief Chinese relatives about its calculations. A spokesman for the AAIB said it was Malaysia was leading the investigation so it was right its officials briefed the relatives.

  • Angry relatives of the lost passengers have staged another protest at Malaysia by staging a walk out of a briefing by Malaysian officials in Beijing. The walkout comes three days after relatives marched on the Malaysian embassy in Beijing demanding answers about the missing plane.

  • Malaysia Airlines has pledged to fly relatives of the missing passengers to Perth if wreckage is found. It said the "the well-being and feelings of family members are and have always been close to our hearts and minds".
    
  2h 13m ago

  An oceanographer has challenged Malaysia's claim that the revised search area could be consistent with satellite sightings hundreds of miles south-west, according to ABC's David Wright.
  

  Malaysia said the objects spotted by satellite earlier this week could have drifted south west. But Australia said any wreckage is likely to have drifted east.
  
  2h 22m ago

  There are as yet no more details on that tantalising update on the sighting of objects by a New Zealand search plane in the new search zone.
  Just to repeat the objects have yet to be identified and are unlikely to be relocated by ship until Saturday.
  The Australian Maritime and Safety Authority said it was awaiting images from the Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion, which was on its way back to base.
  Another New Zealand Orion air crew has just returned home, according to the Facebook page of the Royal New Zealand Air Force.
  

  

  A Royal New Zealand Air Force flying officer Deborah Haines, conducts fuel planning aboard a P-3K2 Orion maritime patrol aircraft as it flies over the southern Indian Ocean searching for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in this picture released by the Australian Defence Force on Friday. Photograph: Handout/Reuters

  Updated 2h 19m ago
  2h 44m ago

  Aircraft spot objects in new area

  A New Zealand search aircraft reports spotting objects in the revised search area, according to the Twitter feed of the Australian Maritime and Safety Authority.
  It is awaiting images of the sighting. Confirmation of the sighting by ship is not expected until Saturday, it added.http://www.theguardian.com/uk
  copy http://www.theguardian.com/