IN AIR/AUSTRALIA: New Zealand and Australian aircraft searching for the missing Malaysian flight MH370 end a day's search yielding nothing new

Record ID: 559512

  • Title: IN AIR/AUSTRALIA: New Zealand and Australian aircraft searching for the missing Malaysian flight MH370 end a day's search yielding nothing new
  • Date: 26th March 2014
  • Summary: PERTH, AUSTRALIA (MARCH 26, 2014) (REUTERS) **CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY** VARIOUS OF ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE (RAAF) P3 ORION TAXIING P3 ORION COMING TO HALT VARIOUS OF PROPELLERS AS ENGINES BEING SWITCHED OFF AIRCREW IN COCKPIT (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE FLYING OFFICER, PETER MOORE, SAYING: "We investigated a couple of visual contacts that actually just turned out to be marine mammal activity. So unfortunately didn't find anything further to report today." AIRCRAFT ON TARMAC (SOUNDBITE) (English) ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE FLYING OFFICER, PETER MOORE, SAYING: "The weather should be good, hopefully over the next two to three days. At least a lot better than what we've seen in the last sort of four to five days of the search operation. So fingers crossed we can get some better conditions." GROUND CREW MEMBER
  • Embargoed: 10th April 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Australia
  • Country: Australia
  • Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
  • Reuters ID: LVA666S68TZJQS53C9OA363YSKZ4
  • Story Text: Australian authorities said on Wednesday (March 26) they had found nothing new in the search for the missing Malaysian flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean.
    A civilian aircraft, one of 12 scouring the region some 2,500 km (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, had seen two objects thought to be rope, while a New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion spotted a blue object, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said on its Twitter feed. But the objects turned out to be marine animals.

    "We investigated a couple of visual contacts that actually just turned out to be marine mammal activity. So unfortunately didn't find anything further to report today," said Flying Officer (FO) Peter Moore, after landing his P3 Orion back at RAAF Pearce air base.
    Earlier, Malaysia said new satellite images had revealed more than 100 objects in the southern Indian Ocean that could be debris from the Malaysian jetliner missing for 18 days.
    A dozen aircraft from Australia, the United States, New Zealand, China, Japan and South Korea were once more scouring the seas in the hunt for wreckage on Wednesday, after bad weather the previous day forced the suspension of the search.

    "The weather should be good, hopefully over the next two to three days. At least a lot better than what we've seen in the last sort of four to five days of the search operation so fingers crossed we can get some better conditions," FO Moore said.
    Wednesday's good weather was unlikely to last, in an area renowned among mariners for high winds and big waves.
    Recovery of wreckage could unlock clues about why and how the plane had diverted so far off course in one of aviation's most puzzling mysteries. Theories range from a hijacking or sabotage to a possible suicide by one of the pilots or in-flight fire that consumed the plane.
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