The Joint Agency Coordination
Centre (JACC) managing the multinational search for the missing plane
said it believed that the plane came down in the southern Indian Ocean
off Australia.
"I think that
we have been looking in the right place," Angus Houston, the head of
JACC, told Sky New Australia. "I'm confident the aircraft will be
found."
A massive search
operation involving satellites, aircraft, ships and sophisticated
underwater equipment capable of scouring the ocean floor has failed to
turn up any trace of the Boeing 777, which disappeared on March 8.
Australian
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday the chance of finding
floating debris was now remote, and a new phase of the search would
focus on the seabed northwest of the Australian city of Perth.
Australian
geophysical survey company GeoResonance said it had been conducting its
own search for the plane and had found what appeared to be plane
wreckage in the Bay of Bengal, thousands of miles from the current
search area.
"The company is not declaring this is MH370, however it should be investigated," GeoResonance said in a statement.
GeoResonance
said it had passed on the information to Malaysian Airlines and the
Malaysian and Chinese embassies in Australia on March 31, and to the
JACC on April 4.
"The company and its directors are surprised by the lack of response from the various authorities," GeoResonance said.
"This
may be due to a lack of understanding of the company's technological
capabilities, or the JACC is extremely busy, or the belief that the
current search in the Southern Indian Ocean is the only plausible
location of the wreckage."
FRUITLESS
GeoResonance says on its
website that it offers a unique and proven method of geophysical survey
that detects electromagnetic fields from various chemical elements.
GeoResonance did not respond to requests for further comment.
The
Australian-led search team said it was relying on information from
satellite and other data to determine the missing aircraft's whereabouts
and the location in the GeoResonance report was not within that search
arc.
Malaysia's Transport Ministry said it was assessing the credibility of the latest report.
Flight
MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, went missing en route from
Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in what investigators suspect was a "deliberate
act".
After weeks of fruitless
searching some 4.5 million sq km (1.7 million sq miles) of the remote
southern Indian Ocean for floating debris, aircraft and ships from
Japan, China, the United States, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand
are now returning to their regular duties.
Australia
now plans to contract commercial companies to undertake a sonar search
of a 60,000 sq km (24,000 sq mile) area of seabed that could take eight
months or more at a cost of about A$60 million ($55.61 million).
Up to 26 countries, including several global and regional rivals, have been involved in the search.
"To
see such significant depth of international cooperation coming together
for one mission is unprecedented and highly encouraging for the
security and stability of the region," Vice Admiral Robert Thomas, the
commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet said. ($1 = 1.0789 Australian
dollars(Gist'ta Blog) - A private company said it had found what it believes is wreckage of a plane in the Bay of Bengal that should be investigated as potential debris from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, but the possibility was dismissed by search coordinators.
The Joint Agency Coordination
Centre (JACC) managing the multinational search for the missing plane
said it believed that the plane came down in the southern Indian Ocean
off Australia.
"I think that
we have been looking in the right place," Angus Houston, the head of
JACC, told Sky New Australia. "I'm confident the aircraft will be
found."
A massive search
operation involving satellites, aircraft, ships and sophisticated
underwater equipment capable of scouring the ocean floor has failed to
turn up any trace of the Boeing 777, which disappeared on March 8.
Australian
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday the chance of finding
floating debris was now remote, and a new phase of the search would
focus on the seabed northwest of the Australian city of Perth.
Australian
geophysical survey company GeoResonance said it had been conducting its
own search for the plane and had found what appeared to be plane
wreckage in the Bay of Bengal, thousands of miles from the current
search area.
"The company is not declaring this is MH370, however it should be investigated," GeoResonance said in a statement.
GeoResonance
said it had passed on the information to Malaysian Airlines and the
Malaysian and Chinese embassies in Australia on March 31, and to the
JACC on April 4.
"The company and its directors are surprised by the lack of response from the various authorities," GeoResonance said.
"This
may be due to a lack of understanding of the company's technological
capabilities, or the JACC is extremely busy, or the belief that the
current search in the Southern Indian Ocean is the only plausible
location of the wreckage."
FRUITLESS
GeoResonance says on its
website that it offers a unique and proven method of geophysical survey
that detects electromagnetic fields from various chemical elements.
GeoResonance did not respond to requests for further comment.
The
Australian-led search team said it was relying on information from
satellite and other data to determine the missing aircraft's whereabouts
and the location in the GeoResonance report was not within that search
arc.
Malaysia's Transport Ministry said it was assessing the credibility of the latest report.
Flight
MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, went missing en route from
Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in what investigators suspect was a "deliberate
act".
After weeks of fruitless searching some 4.5 million sq km
(1.7 million sq miles) of the remote southern Indian Ocean for floating
debris, aircraft and ships from Japan, China, the United States, South
Korea, Australia and New Zealand are now returning to their regular
duties.Australia now plans to contract commercial companies to undertake a sonar search of a 60,000 sq km (24,000 sq mile) area of seabed that could take eight months or more at a cost of about A$60 million ($55.61 million).
Up to 26 countries, including several global and regional rivals, have been involved in the search.
"To see such significant depth of international cooperation coming together for one mission is unprecedented and highly encouraging for the security and stability of the region," Vice Admiral Robert Thomas, the commander of the U.S. Seventh Fleet said. ($1 = 1.0789 Australian dollars
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