The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 off the coast of Western Australia resumed this morning, its scope broadened considerably after new data uncovered by French satellites overnight revealed the presence of potential floating debris 850km north of the current search area in the Southern Indian Ocean.
According to an anonymous Malaysian official speaking to the Associated Press, one of the objects is estimated to be about the same size as the objects captured by Chinese and Australian satellites yesterday and on Thursday respectively; that is, 22m x 13m.
Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss this morning told ABC Radio National that the overall search area has now been extended to cover 68,000 square kilometres encompassing “the areas where debris has been picked up by satellites… and they’re the focus of a lot of the searching. We are just clutching at whatever little piece of information comes along to try and find a place where we might be able to concentrate the efforts.”
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Ministry of Transport this morning pinned a highly #Motivational #Monday #Mantra message on their Facebook page. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority also issued a more concrete statement this morning saying that ten aircraft would be involved in today’s search in the face of challenging weather conditions.
UPDATE: That post appears to have been deleted to due some negative feedback. ICYMI, it read: “Okay, Monday, let’s do this!”
Photo: Pool via Getty
