Ten ships and as many aircraft search a swathe of the Indian Ocean west of Perth on Sunday for some trace of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, with some objects being spotted. Sarah Toms reports.
Lonely wait ... a woman, one of the relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 sits alone after attending a briefing by Malaysian officials at a hotel in Beijing. Source: AP
THE frustrating riddle of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 has further deepened, with planes and ships working the new search zone 1800km west of Perth failing yesterday to turn up any signs of the wreckage.
Searchers were unable to verify that objects seen in the location yesterday were debris from the missing airliner.
Items hauled aboard the Chinese vessel Haixun 01 and Australia's HMAS Success on Friday turned out to be sea junk.
The search has shifted 1100km north after calculations by international aviation experts working in Malaysia, who estimate based on radar data that MH370 flew faster and burned more fuel than previously thought.
In the absence of any other significant leads, the search not only presses on, it has intensified.
The naval support vessel Ocean Shield was expected to steam from Garden Island off Perth this morning for the search area, loaded with a towable pinger locator which is hoped may locate the plane's black box before its batteries expire in around seven days.
The ship also took aboard an autonomous underwater vehicle, or AUV, which will be programmed to search in patterns at depths between 2000m and 4000m.
Search aid ... an underwater search-surveying vehicle sits on the wharf in Perth ready to be fitted to the defence ship Ocean Shield to aid in her roll in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines plane. Source: AP
Captain Mark Matthews from the US Navy warned it took two years to locate the wreckage from the 2009 Air France disaster, even though they knew the approximate location where it went down.
As eight military ships, a transiting merchant vessel and 10 planes were tasked to work the new search zone yesterday, some 30 Chinese implacable family members of passengers on board MH370 arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
They unfurled red and white banners in protest at what they claim is a lack of transparency and the truth from Malaysia.
"We want evidence, we want the truth, we want our family back," angry Chinese relatives chanted at an impromptu protest in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
"Hand us the murderer. Tell us the truth. Give us our relatives back," one banner read. "You must return relatives of MH370. No strings attached."
The group's spokesman, who gave his name as Mr Kong, said the briefings in Beijing provided by Government officials were insufficient and they wanted to meet with Malaysian officials, Boeing, the airline and the Inmarsat satellite company.
"The announcement that the plane crashed into the southern Indian Ocean was just based on speculation," Mr Kong said.
Demanding answers ... newly arrived Chinese relatives of passengers on board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 arrange banners before speaking to reporters at a hotel in Subang Jaya, Malaysia. Source: AP
Malaysia Airlines said would make arrangements to fly family members to Perth, once wreckage was confirmed. It said a assistance centre would be established and families would be taken to view any of the plane's remains.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has appointed former Defence chief Angus Houston to co-ordinate Australia's search, which now involves ships and planes from seven nations after Malaysia finally joined the search.
"Should our responsibilities increase as time goes by, there is no one better placed than Angus to co-ordinate and liaise given the quite significant number of countries that have a stake in this search," Mr Abbott said.
"This government won't rest to give those families and the wider community of the world a little more peace and insight into exactly what happened," he said.
Grieving mother Danica Weeks was "sickened" from the text message from Malaysian Airlines saying that her husband, Paul, a New Zealand resident of Perth, was dead.
"Sickened that someone would actually send me a text message to say that my loved one was dead," she told 60 Minutes last night. "It's my husband, my loving husband, the father of my children and you send me a text message."
Ms Weeks said she felt for her children, Lincoln, 3 and Jack, 11 months, who would grow up without the father they reminded her so much of. "Lincoln, it's just his personality and Jack is just the splitting image of him."
Immeasurable loss ... Danica Weeks said she felt for her children, Lincoln, 3 and Jack, 11 months, who would grow up without the father they reminded her so much of. Source: News Corp Australia
Flight 370 left course in the early hours of March 8 in the Gulf of Thailand en route to Beijing with 239 passengers and crew.
It is believed based on Malaysian radar data and from calculations made by British satellite provider Inmarsat that the flight turned south and flew for between six to eight hours into the Indian Ocean.
It now appears the Indian Ocean is strewn with garbage, misleading analysts who thought they were studying satellite images of possible debris fields from the jet.
One of Australia's RAAF Orion P3s was diverted to fly 648km north of the Antarctic mainland to investigate an emergency distress beacon activated by a Tanzanian-registered fishing vessel.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which also sent a civilian jet out of Melbourne to assist, was unable to establish communications with the vessel, which was in a location of extreme bad weather.
AMSA said debris was spotted in the location and now held grave fears for crew's safety.
False lead ... an object floats in the southern Indian Ocean in this picture taken from a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion aircraft. Source: AP
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