MH370 black box search begins as detection window gets smaller

The underwater search for the black boxes of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has begun as the window for detecting the locator beacon’s transmission grows closer to expiring, according to the head of Australia’s search co-ordination centre.
The missing plane is believed to be lost in the Indian ocean, claiming the lives of all 239 passengers on board, according to Malaysian authorities. While Malaysia bears responsibility for the investigation and recovery of the flight, Australia has been designated an “accredited representative” of the search after prime minister Tony Abbott and the Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, met on Thursday to discuss the search.
The head of the Australian co-ordination centre, former defence force chief Angus Houston, said on Friday that the Australian customs vessel Ocean Shield had deployed an underwater detection vehicle to search for the plane’s black boxes.
“The towed pinger has been deployed today from the Ocean Shield. The search is currently ongoing,” he said. Houston added that the underwater search area has been narrowed to an area of 240 sq kms, and said that time was running out to detect the beacon.
“The area of highest probability as to where the aircraft might have entered the water is the area where the underwater search will commence,” he said. “On best advice the locator beacon will last about a month before it ceases its transmissions. We’re now getting pretty close to the time when it might expire.”
The overall search mission on Friday will scour an area of 217,000 sq kms – 1,700km northwest of Perth. There are ten military aircraft, four civil jets and nine ships involved in the search effort and weather conditions are “fair”.
Houston also rejected suggestions that the visual search could be discontinued in favour of a purely underwater operation, and said there was still a “great possibility” of finding floating objects.
“Let me now say that this is a vast area, an area that’s quite remote, and we’ll continue the surface search for a good deal more time. If we find a piece of wreckage on the surface … that gives us a much better datum to start the underwater search than we’ve currently got,” he said.
Houston also said the Western Australian government was assisting to ensure the families of passengers on board the flight could be hosted and provided any assistance necessary.
The Guardian.