MH 370: Australia Says Search For The Missing Plane Will Take Many Months
The hopes for an early breakthrough in the search for missing plane MH 370 have been dashed as the Australian official heading the search has announced that the "search will take many months". As reported earlier, the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 has been on at a remote patch of the Indian Ocean in Western Australia. The plane disappeared in March while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board,
Peter Foley, Australian search coordinator, told reporters on Friday that optimism is still high about finding the debris of the missing jet. Foley hopes for a smooth search in the coming weeks, as weather is improving and there is more area to be covered. "We will be extraordinarily lucky to find it very early. The debris field could be found any day. But given the size of the area, we are in for the long haul. It will take many months," Foley said.
Dutch Team
Two ships with high-tech sonar devices are searching for the Boeing 777, reported Epoch Times. The search is spearheaded by the ship Discovery provided by Dutch contractor Fugro. The search zone is about 1,800 kilometers west of Australia. A Malaysian ship named GO Phoenix has been combing the area since early October. A third ship, the Fugro Equator, which handled the mapping of the areas in the search zone, will be also joining the hunt by next week.
Before starting the search in early October, its crew mapped the seabed in the 60,000-square kilometre search zone. So far, the GO Phoenix has searched over 1,200 square kilometres. Australian officials in the past had said the search can even take a year. Now, Foley has made i clear that, "We are in for the long haul and take many months", reports Fox News
Indonesia Coverage
Meanwhile, Telegraph reported that authorities searching for the missing MH370 have been advised to cover Indonesia too as the possibility of wreckage floating west from the suspected crash site is high. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, after analysing ocean currents, suggested that the debris can also be washed up in Indonesia.