France provided new satellite data yesterday showing possible debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet as searchers continued to comb a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean.
The new information given to Malaysia’s government and forwarded to searchers in Australia shows “potential objects” in the same part of the ocean where satellite images previously released by Australia and China showed objects that could be debris from the plane, Malaysia’s Ministry of Transport said.
Flight 370 went missing over the Gulf of Thailand on March 8 with 239 people on board en route from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, setting off a multinational search effort. A statement from Malaysia called the information “new satellite images”, while a statement from France’s foreign ministry said “radar echoes taken by a satellite” had located floating debris but made no mention of imagery.
A Malaysian official involved in the search said one of the objects located was estimated to be about the same size as an object captured on Tuesday by the Chinese satellite that appeared to be 72ft by 43ft.
Information about the new data emerged as authorities co-ordinating the search, which is being conducted about 1,550 miles south-west of Perth, sent planes and a ship to try to “re-find” a wooden pallet that appeared to be surrounded by straps of varying lengths and colours.
It was sighted on Saturday by spotters in a search plane, but no images were captured of it and a military plane dispatched to locate it could not find it.
“So, we’ve gone back to that area again today to try and re-find it,” said Mike Barton, chief of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s rescue co-ordination centre.
An Australian navy ship was also involved in the search.
The southern Indian Ocean is thought to be a potential area to find the jet because Malaysian authorities have said “pings” sent by the Boeing 777-200 for several hours after it disappeared indicated that the plane ended up in one of two huge arcs: a northern corridor stretching from Malaysia to Central Asia, or a southern corridor that stretches toward Antarctica.
Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation for what happened to the jet, but have said the evidence so far suggests it was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.
Authorities are considering the possibilities of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board.