MH370: 58 hard objects found on South Indian seabed

The latest discovery of the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 search and rescue squad has exposed 58 solid objects on the seabed of the Indian Ocean, said Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai.

A news portal quoted Liow as saying that the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) was in the midst of recovering the objects.

The 58 objects, he said, could possibly be wreckage from the ill-fated jetliner.

The ministry will verify the objects in its effort to draw a sound conclusion, Liow told newsmen after officiating the Selangor MCA state convention at Wisma MCA here today.

National oil company Petronas will deploy a Go Phoenix vessel – normally used for oil exploration – for the search mission at the southern tip of the Indian Ocean floor.

The asset is expected to arrive in Perth, Australia on Sept 21. Go Phoenix will be accompanied by Australia’s Furgo Discovery ship to search the floor using towed vehicles, equipped with wide-sonar synthetic aperture sonar, multi-beam echo sounders, video cameras, all deployed to locate the aircraft.

The most recent discovery by the Australian authority leading the search for MH370 earlier this month revealed that "hard spots" had been found on the Indian Ocean seabed, but that evident would most likely be "geological features".

Flight MH370 was carrying 239 passengers including cabin crew en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it mysteriously vanished on March 8.