MH370 ‘image’ claims to be probed
Print Edition
THE countries involved in the search for the missing flight MH370 are trying to assess the credibility of a survey company’s claim to have found possible plane wreckage in the northern Bay of Bengal, Malaysia’s defense minister said yesterday.
The location is far from where the search has been concentrated for weeks.
Australia-based GeoResonance Pty Ltd said that a link to the Malaysia Airlines plane, which has been missing since March 8, was not certain, but it called for its findings to be investigated.
The company typically uses multispectral imaging, radiation chemistry and other technologies to look for oil, gas or mineral deposits before digging starts. It used the same technology to look on the ocean floor for chemical elements that would be present in a Boeing 777, such as aluminum, titanium and jet fuel residue.
A statement released by the company said it had identified a location with those substances about 190 kilometers south of Bangladesh.
Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s defense minister and acting transport minister, said China and Australia were aware of the announcement.
“Malaysia is working with its international partners to assess the credibility of this information,” a statement from his office said.
Hishammuddin also said yesterday that Kok Soo Chon, the former head of Malaysia’s civil aviation department, will lead an investigation into the missing jet — which had 239 people on board — that will also include members of the United States National Transportation Safety Board and other agencies.
“The main purpose of the international investigation team is to evaluate, investigate and determine the actual cause of the incident so similar incidents can be avoided in the future,” he said in a statement.
“It is imperative for the government to form this independent team of investigators which is not only competent and transparent, but also highly credible.”
The anguish of families, who have alleged Malaysia was hiding information, has repeatedly spilled over into angry protests against the government and airline since the aircraft vanished on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Kok, who was also a former permanent representative to the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization, is expected to face a tricky task.
While family members are demanding information, investigators have no answers as to why the plane veered dramatically off course. Malaysia believes it was deliberately diverted but it is not known by whom.
Based on calculations involving the plane’s speed and fuel and satellite data, investigators believe it crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean west of Australia.
The investigation body, which has already started work, has accredited representatives from the US National Transportation Safety Board, Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch and China’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Department.
Weeks of air and sea searching, including a deep-sea sonar scan by an unmanned mini-submarine, have found nothing.
Australia said on Monday it has begun an expanded search involving different technology across an area of about 56,000 square kilometers.
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