MH370: Aircraft spots more objects during Saturday's search operations
A RAAF ground crewmen stands in front of the moving propellors of a Royal Malaysian Air Force C-130 Hercules after it landed at RAAF Base Pearce. --AP Photo/Rob Griffith, Pool
Search activities for Saturday have now concluded. Approximately 252,000 square kilometres were searched.
Aircraft in the search area have continued to report sightings of objects similar to those reported on Friday.
A Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force Ilyushin IL-76 reported sighting three objects in the search area.
A Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion also reported sighting multiple objects in a different part of the search area.
The objects sighted by aircraft cannot be verified or discounted as being from MH370 until they are relocated and recovered by ships.
The Haixun 01 and HMAS Success reported they have retrieved a number of objects from the ocean but so far no objects confirmed to be related to MH370 have been recovered.
Today’s search activities involved a total of eight aircraft.
They included three Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P3 Orions, a Japanese Coast Guard jet, a Japanese P3 Orion, a Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF) P3 Orion, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force Ilyushin IL-76, and one civil jet acting as a communications relay.
HMAS Success, the Chinese Maritime Safety Administration ship Haixun 01, China Rescue and Salvage Bureau ship Nan Hai Jiu, and the Chinese Navy ship Jinggang Shan arrived in the search area today and a further five ships should arrive tomorrow.
The ANZAC class frigate HMAS Toowoomba left Perth earlier tonight and is due to arrive at the search area in about three days.
The weather in the search area was described as reasonable for searching however visibility was reduced to about four kilometres with rain showers.
The search will resume in the morning.
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