NOVEMBER 10, 2014
THE Australian Transport Safety Bureau has laid to rest speculation one of the MH370 vessels may have found an object of interest, having been stationary in the southern Indian Ocean for almost 24 hours.
In a statement issued to News Corp Australia in response to questions about the GO Phoenix, an ATSB spokesman said the vessel had experienced “an issue” with its towfish at the weekend.
“The issue has been rectified however severe weather has delayed a safe redeployment of the towfish and recommencement of search operations,” said the spokesman.
GO Phoenix and Fugro Discovery remain at the high probability search site conducting operations in the hope of locating the Boeing 777.
Stationary ... The search vessel, Go Phoenix, hasn’t moved for 21 hours. Source: Supplied
The search has been plagued by bad weather in the last week but operations resumed on Wednesday.
Earlier, American search watcher Mike Chillit has been following the vessel’s operations closely on satellite maps and noted the lack of movement in the last couple of days, fuelling speculation it had found something.
He said it could be weather, although the data showed Fugro Discovery was experiencing bigger seas than the Go Phoenix.
As of last week, the two vessels had covered 3000sq km of the “high probability” search area covering 55,000sq km.
Also in the search ... The Fugro Discovery, along with the Go Phoenix, has covered 3000sq km of the ‘high probability’ search zone. Source: Supplied
The area was identified as the most likely place where MH370 came down after flying for more than seven hours before running out of fuel.
The Malaysia Airlines’ aircraft was en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 when it disappeared from radar screens between Malaysia and Vietnam.
Satellite data has found the plane made a sharp turn south around that time — for reasons unknown.
There were 239 passengers and crew on board including six Australians.
Search begins ... A briefing on board the Go Phoenix, which hasn’t moved for 21 hours. Source: Twitter
Source: http://www.news.com.au/
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