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Chinese satellite reveal image of large floating object in search area (Flight 370 Malaysia)

Published

11 years ago

March 22, 2014

China announced that it has satellite images of a large object floating in the search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, but Australian-led search teams found no sign of it Saturday.
Another day of intense searches by air and sea concluded for the night
with no new clues to give families answers about the fate of the
passengers and crew.
The object the Chinese photographed is 22.5 meters long and 13 meters
wide (74 feet by 43 feet), officials said.
China said the satellite images showing the “suspected floating object”
were captured four days ago, on March 18.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the spot of the
sighting was within Saturday’s search area, but that the object was
not found. Searchers will take the Chinese information into
consideration as they design their search for Sunday, AMSA said.
The floating object was about 77 miles from where earlier satellite
images spotted floating debris.
At least six search flights were involved Saturday, including two
private jets.
Though the two civilian jets did not have radar, their role was
crucial, authorities said.
“It is more likely that a pair of eyes are going to identify something
floating in the ocean,” Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren
Truss said.
Indeed, during Saturday’s search it was a civil aircraft that reported
sighting some small objects floating with the naked eye, including a
wooden pallet, AMSA said. These objects were within a radius of 5
kilometers (3 miles).
A Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion was dispatched to the
area, but only reported seeing clumps of seaweed, AMSA said.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished on March 8 with 239 people
aboard destined for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
The stated goal of the Malaysian authorities is to narrow the search
area, a task that is proving difficult.