Search for missing plane to start from scratch: No debris found in Indian Ocean area
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Indian Ocean area where the researchers traced the acoustic signals from the black box of missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, does not coincide with the area in the southern Indian ocean believed to be the site of the crash.
This is what has emerged after a lengthy underwater search by
the Australian-led Joint Agency Coordination Centre using a mini sub. Officials of the Joint Agency
Coordination Center ( JACC) report that " there are no signs of debris or
pieces of plane " and, consequently , the area under investigation "can
now be ruled out as the crash area of the MH370 " .
Dozens of ships and planes of a multinational task force have carried searches
in the area for about two months , where the acoustic signals of the aircraft black
box were detected, but no debris was found. The sea area was identified on the
basis of calculations of satellite data available to investigators , after the Malaysia
Airlines flight Kuala Lumpur- Beijing mysteriously veered to the south- west,
for reasons yet unknown.
Experts of the Joint JACC Commission say they now pass to the next stage of the
search, which will cover an area of unexplored ocean of about 60 thousand
square kilometers. The fear, especially among relatives of the victims, is that
the it will prove fruitless and the fate of the flight MH370 will remain
forever shrouded in mystery.
On several occasions, the
families of the passengers , most of them originating in Malaysia and China,
have reported their anxiety and frustration at the lack of progress in the search
and have accused the government of Kuala Lumpur of hiding essential satellite
data for the discovery of the plane.
A spokesman for the group that brings together the relatives of the Chinese victims
on board the aircraft emphasizes that "so much time has passed and nothing has been
found, so we doubt that the calculated position of the plane is correct".
Other family members have sent a complaint
in an 18 page letter to Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and the Prime
Minister of Malaysia Najib Razak , in which they seek "answers" about
the causes that led to the disappearance of the flight; so far, however, they
received only "marginal stories " of what has happened .
In contrast, Kuala Lumpur answered - with a certain detachment - that it is
doing "everything possible" in an unpredictable and unprecedented situation.
The Boeing 777-200,
which had 239 people on board including a crew of 12, disappeared on 8 March
over the sea south of Vietnam.
According to the passenger list, Flight 370 carried 153 passengers from China, 38 from Malaysia, 12 from Indonesia, and others from Australia, Europe and the United States.
So far, Malaysia Airlines has had a good record, with nearly four decades without major accidents. Its worst incident dates back to 1977, when 100 people died.
Every day, the company carries up to 37,000 passengers to 80 destinations worldwide. Still, it has lost money in recent years due to competition from low-cost competitors, including Malaysia-based Air Asia.
Recently it registered a new incident, when an airplane -Kuala Lumpur to Seoul - made an emergency landing in Hong Kong for a fault in the main power generator .
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