Chinese aircrew have spotted “suspicious objects” in the southern Indian Ocean whilst looking for vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the official Xinhua news agency says. They have reported that the crew of the Ilyushin-76 have found “white, square objects” floating in the Southern Indian Ocean at co-ordinates - 95.1113 degrees east and 42.5453 south.
The significance of this finding over the satellite images that have been released over the past few days is that this sighting is in “real time” meaning the debris can be tracked and monitored. Satellite images whilst extremely useful can be up to four days old with debris having moved hundreds of kilometers by the time the image is received.
As a precaution, the US Navy is sending a black box locator to the area. Commander William Marks, a spokesman for the US Seventh Fleet, said in an email “If a debris field is confirmed, the Navy’s Towed Pinger Locator 25 will add a significant advantage in locating the missing Malaysian aircraft’s black box,”
The Chinese icebreker Xuelong is now making its way to the area and should reach there tomorrow.
The area where the devris has been spotted is 2174 kilometres from Perth
AirlineRatings.com will continue to update this story as it develops
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