New research has confirmed authorities are likely searching the right area for missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370.
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Fresh analysis indicated a 44,000km² area in the Indian Ocean as a new priority, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss told reporters in Canberra.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau would now focus its search on the southern-most part of their targeted area in the “seventh arc” of the Indian Ocean, over a slightly wider terrain, with only one-quarter of the area where the plane was most likely to be found left to be searched.
A flaperon from the Boeing 777-200ER was washed up in July on Reunion Island – a French overseas department off the east coast of Madagascar, but no other trace of the plane has been found.
The new analysis examined the flight’s final moments and found that the plane was unlikely to have conducted a controlled landing, concluding the aircraft experienced “engine flame-outs” and its last satellite communication was due to a power failure. Investigators are focusing on the southern part of the zone, where the boundaries of the search have now been widened, Mr Truss said.
Beijing-bound MH370 – which vanished an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8 a year ago – was carrying 239 passengers and crew members, including 152 Chinese citizens. It confirms the focus of search efforts so far and identified the southern section as the area of highest probability for containing the aircraft.
On Saturday, a third ship, equipped with a video camera inside an underwater unmanned submarine, will join the current two to search the new priority area.
It is significant that the two studies, which had been taking place since the search began and used different methods, reached similar conclusions, the JACC said. Australia’s Defence Science and Technology Group has now carried out further work to help search teams, the statement said. “A lot of the area is hard and rocky and that’s the hardest place to search”.
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In total, the search is expected to cost AU$180 million, with Australia contributing AU$60 million and Malaysia contributing AU$100 million, Truss said.
