ABOVE: Bad weather delayed the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, and crews admit they’re a long way from finding the plane. Robin Stickley reports.
LATEST UPDATES:
- Search for downed plane to shift to smaller area in south Indian Ocean
- Search suspended due to bad weather
- China demands satellite data from Malaysia on lost jet
- A look at how knowledge of physics and a UK satellite helped narrow Malaysian jet search
- Race is on to find Malaysia airliner’s black boxes
TORONTO – Search and rescue efforts for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been suspended due to hazardous weather in the Indian Ocean but may continue on Wednesday, said Australia’s defense minister on Tuesday.
Minister David Johnston said at a news conference held at Australian Air Force Base Pearce in Perth that the decision to suspend the search had been taken because of strong winds as high as 80 kilometres per hour, thick cloud, rainstorms and huge waves in the southern Indian Ocean.
The operation might continue on Wednesday if weather conditions improve, Johnston said. One surveillance plane from South Korea would join the operation in the days to come, he added.
Meanwhile, the defense minister noted that Australia might consider arranging for family members of the missing passengers to visit the country if plane wreckage is salvaged.
Malaysia’s acting transport minister said on Tuesday that search operations in the northern corridor have been called off and the search for missing Flight MH370 is now focused on the southern part of the southern corridor in the Indian Ocean.
Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also the country’s defence minister, told media at a daily news conference the search effort was concentrated in an area of around 469,407 square nautical miles in the southern Indian Ocean.
WATCH: Malaysian transport minister says search for missing plane now focused in one area
New analysis of satellite data has suggested that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight “ended” in the southern Indian Ocean, said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Monday.
Malaysia’s Prime Minister, Najib Razak, confirmed on Monday that there was no longer any doubt that Flight MH370 went down in the southern Indian Ocean.
The plane disappeared on March 8 on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard, including two Canadians.
China demands satellite data from Malaysia on lost jet
China has asked Malaysia to provide satellite data which led to its judgment that flight MH370 ended in the Indian Ocean, Chinese vice-foreign minister Xie Hangsheng said during an urgent meeting with Malaysian Ambassador Datuk Iskandar Bin Sarudin in Beijing on Monday night.
During the meeting with Sarudin, Xie asked the Malaysian side to provide all information and evidence related to the analysis of satellite data.
Xie emphasized that the search and rescue work must not stop. He urged Malaysia to continue all the relevant work including search and rescue for the missing plane.
How knowledge of physics and a UK satellite helped narrow jet search
British satellite company Inmarsat said on Monday a “unique approach” was used to track the mysterious flight path of missing airliner.
The plane’s disappearance shortly after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur on a routine flight to Beijing on March 8 has continued to baffle investigators.
READ MORE: How knowledge of physics and a UK satellite helped narrow Malaysian jet search
The plane sent a brief signal – a “ping” – every hour to a satellite belonging to Inmarsat, even after other communication systems on the jetliner shut down.
Using that information, Inmarsat has concluded that the plane’s last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth, Australia.
Chris McLaughlin, senior vice president of external affairs at Inmarsat, said it was the first time they’ve had to track an object using only a single signal.
“This is the first time we’ve ever been asked to try and locate a lost aircraft or ship based on one single signal. Normally you’d want to triangulate, often you’d have GPS,” he said in an interview with The Associated Press.
Australian relatives, defence minister, comment on missing plane
The Australian Defence Minister on Tuesday said the fate of those onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was still unknown and until debris is found, all other information was “speculation.”
Asked about the Malaysian government’s decision to conclude all 239 passengers and crew were lost at sea, Johnston suggested that nothing was yet confirmed.
“This is a mystery and until we recover and positively identify a piece of debris, everything is virtually speculation,” he said.
WATCH: Australian defense minister contradicts Malaysian government, says all conclusions are ‘speculation’
Johnston said search operations would resume once rough weather had resided and he would not risk the lives of rescue crews.
Meanwhile, Jayden Burrows, whose mother and father were onboard the missing flight, spoke at a news conference in Brisbane and said his parents’ lives had been cut short.
“Our family is trying to come to terms with this terrible tragedy. We dearly love and will miss our mum and dad,” he said.
READ MORE: Flight MH370: Race is on to find Malaysia airliner’s black boxes
Burrows said the family was “heartbroken” but thankful for the extensive search efforts of the Australian government and international community.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), which is coordinating the search over the Indian Ocean, announced that aircraft would not leave the search base at the Australian west coast city of Perth and that the Australian navy ship HMAS Success was leaving the search zone until seas abate.
The delay is frustrating for authorities who are racing against time to find any piece of debris that could lead them to where the Boeing 777 hit the remote stretch of ocean on March 8 before its black boxes stopped transmitting.
– with files from The Associated Press
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