Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
More nations have joined the search in the southern Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines
flight MH370, amid concern that rain will hamper search efforts.
Ten planes were set to scour the area for possible debris picked up earlier by radar
echoes and satellite imagery. Australia's acting leader has cautioned that
the search is a "challenge" and officials are "clutching" at clues.
Flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with
239 people on board. Two Chinese military planes have flown out
to the search area, around 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south-west of Australian city Perth,
while two Japanese P-3 Orion aircraft will set off later on Monday.
They will join six other planes, including US and Australian military planes, to search
a 68,500 sq km (26,000 sq miles) area in the ocean.
However, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is co-ordinating search efforts in the
south, said on Monday: "The weather forecast in the search area is expected to deteriorate,
with rain likely." Warren Truss, Australia's acting prime minister
while Tony Abbott is abroad, said that a tropical cyclone north of the search area could "stir
up less favourable weather" for the search. The search for flight MH370 has been in two
large corridors - one stretching to the north-west of the last known location in the Malacca
Straits and one to the south-west. However, none of the countries on the northern
corridor have reported any radar contact, and the Australian and Chinese satellite images
of possible debris in the south Indian Ocean have concentrated the search there.
On Sunday, French officials said radar echoes from a satellite also identified possible
debris in the south Indian Ocean. The objects identified by the French satellite
were "about 850 km north of our current search area", Mr Truss told Australian broadcaster
ABC. "That's not in the area that had been identified
as the most likely place where the aircraft may have entered the sea. But having said
all that we've got to check out all the options." Mr Truss added that it was not certain that
the plane was in the area. "We're just... clutching at whatever little piece of information
comes along to try and find a place where we might be able to concentrate the efforts,"
he said.