The search for the crashed Malaysian jet continued today with 10 aircraft and eight ships tasked to scour the Indian Ocean, after early sightings in the new search zone drew a blank.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said, eight planes and a number of ships scoured some 252,000 square kilometres of water yesterday for signs of the plane, with aircraft reporting sightings of objects similar to those reported on Friday.
Eight ships will join the search by the end of the day, including the Australian Ocean Shield, which will be fitted with a “black box” detector and an autonomous underwater vehicle, AMSA said. All ships will seek to locate and identify objects sighted by aircraft over the past two days. Weather in the search area is forecast to worsen with light showers and low clouds, though search operations are expected to continue.
Former Australian defence force chief Angus Houston would head a new unit to help in the search involving the militaries of seven nations — Australia, China, Malaysia, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the US.
Aircraft involved in the hunt for the plane have so far reported seeing a number of objects of various colours floating in the sea in the new area.