MH370 wreck likely in new search area, says report

PETALING JAYA: Any wreckage of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will likely be found in the new proposed search area north of the initial projected crash site as no debris from the plane has turned up on Australia’s west coast, says an Australian news network.

The ABC network said wreckage could be found at 35 degrees south in the southern Indian Ocean, in an area straddling a line known as the “seventh arc”.

It quoted Australian oceanographer David Griffin from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) who said if MH370 had crashed at other latitudes such as 32, 33 or 34, there was a high likelihood that debris would have turned up in Australia.

However, Griffin, who led the drift analysis last year which helped narrow down the search zone, said so far, 20 to 30 items had turned up in Africa with not a single one appearing in Australia.

“Once you start looking in the vicinity of 36 to 32, then 35 is the only option,” he said in the report.

MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route to Beijing from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport, with 239 passengers and crew members on board.

It was believed to have crashed into the waters of the southern Indian Ocean, about 2,000km off the coast of Western Australia.

Following an extensive but fruitless search of the area, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau identified a new search zone immediately to the north of the original zone.

On Wednesday, Malaysia signed a deal to pay US seabed exploration firm Ocean Infinity up to US$70 million if it finds the missing aircraft within 90 days of embarking on a new search.

The Houston-based private firm will search for MH370 on a “no-cure, no-fee” basis, meaning it will only get paid if it finds the plane.

According to Ocean Infinity chief executive Oliver Plunkett, the search will begin on Jan 17.