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Planes spot objects after search for MH370 moves north

An air and sea search for the missing flight MH370 moved 1,100km north yetserday, after Australian authorities coordinating the operation in the remote Indian Ocean received new information from Malaysia that suggested the plane ran out of fuel earlier than thought.

The dramatic shift in the search area, moving it further than the distance between London and Berlin, followed analysis of radar and satellite data that showed the missing plane had travelled faster than had been previously calculated, and so would have burned through its fuel load quicker.

Australia said yesterday that five aircraft had spotted "multiple objects of various colours" in the new search area.

"Photographic imagery of the objects was captured and will be assessed overnight," the Australian Maritime and Safety Authority (Amsa) said in a statement.

"The objects cannot be verified or discounted as being from MH370 until they are relocated and recovered by ships."

The latest twist underscores the perplexing and frustrating hunt for evidence in the near three-week search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which vanished from civilian radar screens less than an hour into a Kuala Lumpur to Beijing flight.

Malaysia says the plane was likely diverted deliberately but investigators have turned up no apparent motive or other red flags among the 227 passengers or the 12 crew.

Malaysian officials said the new search area was the result of a painstaking analysis of Malaysian military radar data and satellite readings from British company Inmarsat carried out by American, Chinese, British and Malaysian investigators.

Engine performance analysis by the plane's manufacturer Boeing helped investigators determine how long the plane could have flown before it ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean, they said.

"Information which had already been examined by the investigation was re-examined in light of new evidence drawn from the Inmarsat data analysis," Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference.

Aircraft redirected

For more than a week, ships and surveillance planes have been scouring seas 2,500km from Perth, where satellite images had shown possible debris from light MH370, which went missing on March 8.

Ten aircraft searching yesterday were immediately redirected to the new area of 319,000 sq km about 1,850km from Perth. The Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation was also redirecting satellites there, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (second from right) says new evidence drawn from Inmarsat data analysis suggests a new search area for flight MH370. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, March 29, 2014.
Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein (second from right) says new evidence drawn from Inmarsat data analysis suggests a new search area for flight MH370. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, March 29, 2014.

A flotilla of Australian and Chinese ships would take longer to shift north, however, with the Australian naval ship the HMAS Success due to arrive this morning.

The new search area is larger, but closer to Perth, allowing aircraft to spend longer on site by shortening travel times. It is also vastly more favourable in terms of the weather as it is out of the deep sea region known as the Roaring 40s for its huge seas and frequent storm-force winds.

"I'm not sure that we'll get perfect weather out there, but it's likely to be better more often than what we've seen in the past," said John Young, general manager Amsa, adding that the previous search site was being abandoned.

"We have moved on from those search areas to the newest credible lead," he said.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said earlier that the shift was based on analysis of radar data between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca. At that time, the Boeing 777-200ER (9M-MRO) was making a radical diversion west from its course.

Malaysia's civil aviation chief, Datuk Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, said yesterday he was "not at liberty" to give the exact path of the aircraft.

Officials close to the investigation said last week that the plane may have passed close to Port Blair, the capital of India's Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 885km further northwest from where Malaysia has said its military radar last detected it.

Satellite images

The shift comes less than a day after the latest reports of sightings of possible wreckage, captured by Thai and Japanese satellites in roughly the same frigid expanse of sea as earlier images reported by France, Australia and China.

Images had shown suspected debris, including pieces as large as 24m, within the original search area in the southern Indian Ocean.

Potential debris has also been seen from search aircraft, but none has been picked up or confirmed as the wreckage of flight MH370.

Hishammuddin said it was still possible that those objects were debris from the plane, as any wreckage could have been swept hundreds of kilometres from the crash site by now.

"Because of ocean drift, this new search area could still be consistent with the potential objects identified by various satellite images over the past week," he said.

The United States navy said yesterday it was sending a second P8-Poseidon, its most advanced maritime surveillance aircraft, to help in the search. – Reuters, March 29, 2014.