Canberra: The search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that was declared lost in the southern Indian Ocean were suspended Thursday due to bad weather conditions, Australian authorities said.
“Today’s (Thursday’s) search operations have been suspended due to bad weather. All planes are returning to Perth & ships are leaving the search area,” the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) tweeted.
However, it later added: “Ships staying in search area & will attempt to continue searching but all planes returning. Bad weather expected for next 24 hours.”
Earlier Thursday, the AMSA, which is coordinating the ongoing multinational search operation, said in an update that the the search and recovery operations for flight MH370 resumed with six military aircraft, five civil aircraft and five ships in the Australian Search and Rescue Region.
Three objects were spotted Wednesday by two aircraft but but these could not be relocated despite several passes. Theese were unrelated to the credible satellite imagery provided to AMSA.
Positions in the satellite information released by Malaysia Remote Sensing Agency Wednesday were within Wednesday’s search area.
Malaysia announced Wednesday that 122 objects have been spotted in new satellite imagery that might be connected to the ongoing search for the lost jet.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished mysteriously about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur shortly after midnight March 8.
The Boeing 777-200ER was scheduled to land in Beijing the same day. The 226 passengers on board included five Indians, 154 Chinese and 38 Malaysians.
The plane lost contact along with its radar signal when it was flying over the air traffic control area of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City.
At a press conference in Kuala Lumpur Monday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said British investigators from its Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) confirmed flight MH370 “ended in the southern Indian Ocean”.
“Based on their new analysis, Inmarsat and the AAIB have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth,” he added.
