New satellite images have revealed more than 100 objects in the southern Indian Ocean that could be debris from a Malaysian jetliner missing for 18 days, while planes scouring the frigid seas on Wednesday also reported seeing potential wreckage.
Hishammuddin Hussein, the Malaysian Acting Transport Minister, said at a news conference on Wednesday in Kuala Lumpur, that the latest sightings came as searchers stepped up efforts to find some trace of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
Hussein said it was imperative to link the debris to MH370, as there were four separate satellite leads from Australia, China and France showing possible debris.
“The latest images were captured by France-based Airbus Defence and Space on Monday and showed 122 potential objects in a 400-sq-km (155-sq-mile) area of ocean and the objects varied in size from one metre to 23 metres (75 ft) in length,” he said.
Hussein said the Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, bound for Beijing, and investigators believe someone on the flight might have shut off the plane’s communications systems.
He said partial military radar tracking showed it turning west and re-crossing the Malay Peninsula, apparently under the control of a skilled pilot.
Malaysia’s air force has released few details of its radar tracking beyond saying the plane was last detected off the northwest coast heading toward India.
Reuters/NAN.
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