Another possible clue into the plane’s disappearance emerged Monday. Australian officials announced the Australian ship Ocean Shield had detected an oil slick Sunday evening.
It is unclear where the oil came from. A 2-liter sample has been collected for examination, but it will take a few days to analyze.
“I stress the source of the oil has yet to be determined, but the oil slick is approximately 5,500 meters (3.4 miles) downwind … from the vicinity of the detections of the TPL on Ocean Shield,” Houston said, referring to the pings detected by a towed pinger locator, a wing-shaped listening device connected to the ship by a cable.
It’s not the first oil slick detected as part of the search. A similar find in the first days of the search was determined to be fuel oil from a freighter.