Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 missing!

'HARD SPOTS' FOUND IN MH370 SEARCH, MOST LIKELY GEOLOGICAL: AUSTRALIA

The Australian authority leading the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 said Friday that "hard spots" had been found on the Indian Ocean seabed, but that most would likely be geological features.

Experts are conducting a sonar survey of a remote patch of the southern Indian Ocean, an area never previously explored in such detail, in preparation for an underwater search for the plane which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people onboard.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the sonar search had provided information on the depth of the water and the composition of the sea floor in the search zone.

"The multibeam sonar can identify degrees of hardness, although it cannot distinguish between (for example) the hard metal of an aircraft and the hard rock of the seafloor," an ATSB spokesman said.

"The vast majority of hard spots found are most likely to be geological features as opposed to man-made objects."

Flight MH370 went missing en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and the seabed mapping has already uncovered previously unknown volcanoes on the ocean floor.

The ATSB said by identifying the hard objects, experts were "informing where closer investigation may be required during the deep water search".

The plane is believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean far off the west coast of Australia after mysteriously diverting off-course, but a massive air, sea and underwater search has failed to find any wreckage.

Experts have used technical data to finalise its most likely resting place deep under the Indian Ocean and are preparing for a more intense underwater search.

Likely to start this month, this will focus on a dauntingly vast stretch of ocean measuring 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 square miles).

Last month Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said the ongoing mapping of the ocean floor had already uncovered "quite remarkable" geographical features, including the discovery of new volcanoes up to 2,000 metres (6,562 feet) high.

"In one place in particular... the sea depth is as little as 600 metres, and then falls away in just a very short distance to 6,600 metres," he said.

"It's quite dramatic in some places, and certainly the equipment could be lost if we had not earlier been able to map it and detect where these mountains are, where the trenches are, and where areas can be searched with the confidence that the equipment will not be damaged."


Source : Sapa-AFP /ma
Date : 05 Sep 2014 10:58
 
SORROW AND FRUSTRATION OF MH370 FAMILIES SIX MONTHS ON
by Felicia SONMEZ

Grieving family members of passengers aboard MH370 held an emotional gathering in Beijing on Monday, six months after the plane disappeared, demanding answers and accusing Chinese authorities of turning against them.

Chinese passengers account for about two-thirds of the 239 people aboard the Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to China's capital, with dozens of their relatives reportedly beaten and arrested in recent months.

About 30 family members convened on Beijing's Lama Temple, a popular Tibetan Buddhist site, to vent their frustration and pray for the missing on a day that marks both the six-month anniversary of the flight's disappearance as well as China's traditional Mid-Autumn Festival, a day for families to reunite.

"In China, today is Family Reunion Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival," said a 55-year-old woman who gave only her surname, Zhang, and whose daughter was aboard the flight.

"Every day is torture, but today we're suffering even more," added Zhang, who is from the far northeastern city of Harbin but has been staying in Beijing since the plane's disappearance.

"I'm calling on the kind people of the world to hurry up and rescue my child," said another woman, who declined to give her name. "Rescue my child. We can't live on."

Australia has been spearheading the hunt for the plane, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

But the massive air, sea and underwater search has so far failed to find any wreckage.

An intensified search will start in about two weeks, focusing on a dauntingly vast stretch of ocean measuring 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 square miles).

As plainclothes and uniformed police looked on in Beijing, several family members related stories of harassment by Chinese authorities, such as one episode earlier this summer when more than a dozen family members were arrested -- including children aged six and four -- and some beaten after seeking answers from the Malaysia Airlines office in the capital.

Dai Shuqin, a 61-year-old worker from Beijing whose younger sister and her family were aboard MH370, said she was among those who had been detained.

"We don't understand it; we're just ordinary people," she said.

"Some of us want to take our own lives -- climb up a tall building and kill ourselves," she whispered. "We're being bullied so much. Our country is not protecting us at all. How can we live?"

The mistreatment represents a sharp turnaround by Chinese authorities, who initially voiced support for the relatives and even granted rare permission for them to hold demonstrations outside the Malaysian embassy.

Upon arriving at the Lama Temple, several of the relatives burst out in anger at their treatment and the lack of answers, with some continuing to espouse conspiracy theories about the plane's whereabouts.

"I think this case is strange," said a man surnamed Zhen, the brother of a missing passenger. "Technology and information is already very developed. Half a year has gone by and absolutely no news. It's really hard to accept."

Later, the family members gathered on benches to eat steamed buns and fruit, while nearby temple visitors burned incense at giant cauldrons. Some had donned blue-and-white T-shirts reading "MH370, return home safely", which they had worn to earlier demonstrations. Several rested their heads in their hands, distraught.

"At the very least, this kind of thing shouldn't happen," Zhang said when asked about the abuse at the hands of authorities. "We relatives are all suffering. They shouldn't make us suffer even more."

Meanwhile in Malaysia, Selamat Umar, 60, whose son Mohamad Khairul Amri was onboard the ill-fated airliner, said he held special prayers attended by about 100 people Sunday for "Allah to protect my son and bring him back".

"It is breaking my heart that we still do not have any information about MH370," he said. "There is no peace of mind for me at all."

Jacquita Gonzales, 52, the wife of inflight supervisor Patrick Gomes, said it was "daily torture for us not knowing where they are".

"Six months on we are no closer to the truth, we are no closer to any closure. We are in limbo," she said.


Source : Sapa-AFP /ar
Date : 08 Sep 2014 12:21
 
SEARCH FOR MH370 TO ENTER NEW PHASE

The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 enters a new underwater phase this week almost seven months after the jet went missing, with two specialist ships to join the hunt.

MH370 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people onboard and no trace of the Boeing 777-200 has been found despite a massive air, sea and underwater search.

Authorities have since used technical data to focus the search in the southern Indian Ocean far west of Western Australia along the thin, long arc from which the plane emitted its last satellite "handshake".

Australia has been spearheading the hunt for the plane, which is believed to have come down after mysteriously diverting off-course, leaving search teams with a dauntingly vast task that has been beset by false leads and initial confusion -- to the continued frustration of grieving relatives.

The latest phase to begin in early October will see two ships -- Fugro Discovery and Malaysian-contracted GO Phoenix -- send sophisticated sonar systems some 5,000 metres (3 miles) below sea level to search the ocean floor using sound waves, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said.

The systems, attached to the ships by tow cables up to 10 kilometres long, have been programmed to detect the biggest parts of the aircraft that are likely to be in one piece, such as engines, landing gear and fuselage, the ATSB's Peter Foley said.

If "abnormalities" are detected, the ships will return to those areas and pilot the vehicles "slower and lower", using cameras to look at the sea bed, said Foley who is in charge of search operations.

Foley said he was "cautiously optimistic" the underwater probe would be successful, but he acknowledged the "very challenging" conditions faced by the search teams at the remote and largely unexplored location.

On the surface, the ships and their crew operate in cold, windy conditions and on rough seas with waves as high as 12 metres.

Underwater, the searchers are discovering new features in a varied terrain previously mapped with coarser resolution using limited satellite data.

"Given the area that we are going to need to potentially search, it's an extraordinary challenge," Foley said.

The new phase follows the mapping of some 110,000 square kilometres (44,000 square miles) of the remote area's vast sea floor since May -- by Chinese survey ship Zhu Kezhen and the Australian-contracted Fugro Equator.

With the search zone cutting across Broken Ridge -- a mountainous sea floor structure formed by spreading plate margins -- the three-dimensional maps produced from the survey by Geoscience Australia have revealed an underwater world of volcanoes, ridges and deep trenches.

The changes in height, with ridges up to 300 metres high and trenches some 1,400 metres deep, point to the tough job ahead. But the data could also inform other research after the underwater probe is concluded.

"What it is giving us is some background on the evolution of the continental plates that exist in this area, the geology of the sea floor... and it gives us places to look at in future for biological communities," Stuart Minchin, from Geoscience Australia, told AFP.

"Having this kind of information about the sea floor also impacts our modelling of ocean currents and provides some background information for potential tsunami impact modelling down the track," added Minchin.

He said the mapping had identified new features, including a ridge six kilometres wide, 15 kilometres long and nearly 2,000 metres above the sea floor, as well as two volcanoes and seamounts, which are remnants of volcanoes.

The ATSB said on September 24 that further refinement of communications and flight data from MH370 would be used to determine the first areas to be scoured by the ships, "which will most likely extend south" of the previous priority zone.

The team has also hired a sonar specialist who worked with Air France AF447's recovery team after that plane crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, with many similar challenges -- such as water depth and terrain --in the searches, Foley said.

"We are totally focused on finding that aircraft and we've got really expert help, so optimism is high," he said.


Source : Sapa-AFP /kd
Date : 29 Sep 2014 07:40
 
NO SIGN YET OF MH370 IN FIRST UPDATE OF UNDERWATER SEARCH

Australian authorities released their first update on the latest underwater probe for missing flight MH370 Wednesday, saying more than 670 square kilometres (260 square miles) had been searched without success.

The Malaysia Airlines aircraft carrying 239 people vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 and no sign of the jet has been found despite a massive air and sea search.

The Boeing 777, which is believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean after inexplicably veering off course, is now the subject of a renewed underwater hunt far off western Australia.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is leading the search, said the Malaysian-contracted vessel GO Phoenix was continuing to conduct underwater search operations.

The underwater search began on October 6 and followed a survey to map the seabed. About 127,000 square kilometres of the search zone has been mapped so far.

Sophisticated vehicles attached to the ship by tow cables have been programmed to detect the biggest parts of the aircraft likely to be in one piece, such as engines and fuselage.

"GO Phoenix continues to conduct underwater search operations," the ATSB said.

"At one point, operations were halted in order to recover the deep tow vehicle and rectify a cable connection fault. Operations were quickly recommenced."

GO Phoenix is searching the area considered the most likely final resting place of the plane, based on detailed analysis of the aircraft's satellite communications.

A second ship, the Fugro Discovery, is conducting sea trials and is expected to join the search mid next week in the second most likely area, officials have said.

Australia has been spearheading the hunt for the plane, a dauntingly vast task that has been beset by false leads and initial confusion -- to the continued frustration of grieving relatives.


Source : Sapa-AFP /mr
Date : 15 Oct 2014 07:59
 
Stepping back, one cannot help but admire the tenacity and determination of our species to find the remains of this machine so as to determine the cause of failure. What a marvellous testament to the powerful human impulse to know and understand, and to our culture for expending such huge resources on this search.
 
2ND SHIP TO JOIN HUNT FOR MISSING MALAYSIAN PLANE

Malaysia's defense minister has expressed confidence Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 will eventually be found as a second ship prepares to join the search.

The Fugro Discovery is scheduled to arrive in the search area about 1,800 kilometers (1,100) miles west of Australia on Wednesday. The GO Phoenix, a Malaysian ship that has been combing the area since early October, has returned to port in Australia to resupply.

Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein is in Australia to greet the GO Phoenix. He says everything possible is being done to find the Boeing 777, which disappeared on March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Hishammuddin says: "We will find MH370."

The underwater search resumed in early October after being on hold for four months while crews mapped the seabed.


Source : Sapa-AP /gf
Date : 22 Oct 2014 07:45
 
MALAYSIA'S DEFENCE MINISTER CONFIDENT FLIGHT MH370 WILL BE FOUND

Malaysia's defence minister said Wednesday said he was confident the search for the Malaysia Airlines passenger flight MH370 would be a success, Australian media reported.

Broadcaster ABC said Hishamuddin Hussein cited technology used in the search that has entered a third phase in the Indian Ocean off western Australia.

"If the question just now was based on the technology that was available and we are looking in the right place, we're talking about 99.9 per cent," he was quoted as telling reporters onboard the GO Phoenix search vessel in Freemantle.

The plane went missing on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people onboard. Hussein was transport minister at the time.

The GO Phoenix docked in the harbour city after experts using sophisticated sonar equipment spent 10 days surveying an ocean area of more than 1,200 square kilometres, ABC said.

The search for MH370 is the most intensive in aviation history.

In August, Australian search coordinators said satellite experts had honed in on one particular area in the 60,000-square-kilometre southern Indian Ocean.

The area was identified after new information gleaned by experts from satellite data showed the plane may have turned south earlier than previously thought, they said.


Source : Sapa-dpa /kd
Date : 22 Oct 2014 12:44
 
MALAYSIA AIRLINES SUED BY 2 BOYS OVER FLIGHT 370

Two Malaysian teenage boys are suing Malaysia Airlines and the government over the loss of their father eight months after Flight 370 that was carrying him mysteriously disappeared.

Friday's suit was the first filed by the family member of a passenger aboard the missing jet.

Jee Kinson, 13, and Jee Kinland, 11, sought damages for mental distress and the loss of support following the disappearance of their father, Jee Jing Hang.

They said the airline and the government had been negligent and failed to take all due measures to ensure a safe flight.

The plane disappeared March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. It was believed to have gone down in a remote patch of the Indian Ocean, where a search is ongoing.


Source : Sapa-AP /gm
Date : 31 Oct 2014 06:14
 
Was watching a documentary on the 12 Devil's Graveyards or Vile Vortices and they said the malasian airline went missing in one of them.
 
waynegohl said:
Was watching a documentary on the 12 Devil's Graveyards or Vile Vortices and they said the malasian airline went missing in one of them.
Click to expand...

Hey Wayne. Where are the said graveyards and vortices?
 
Thank you, Squire. Woot! I'll have something to do during office hours :D

/jk boss
 
McT said:
Thank you, Squire. Woot! I'll have something to do during office hours :D

/jk boss
Click to expand...

ha ha ha we all know how that one goes, multiple tabs are a wonderful thing.

I didn't know there were so many Devil's Graveyards around the globe but had heard of 2 or 3 before.
 
FAMILIES FURIOUS OVER REPORT MH370 TO BE DECLARED 'LOST'

Relatives of MH370 passengers have criticised beleaguered Malaysia Airlines after an official reportedly said authorities would set a date to announce the plane "lost", with an industry source saying such a declaration would see the search called off.

Both Malaysia Airlines and officials in Australia -- which is leading the search for the missing jet far off its western coast -- have denied the reported comments by the carrier's commercial director Hugh Dunleavy.

But Voice370, an association of MH370 victims' relatives, said in a statement late Monday that it was "bewildered" by the report last week.

"Such unilateral declaration brings intense agony and confusions to family members and makes us lose faith in the search effort," it said.

A New Zealand Herald article, citing Dunleavy, said authorities were working to set a date -- likely by the end of the year -- to formally announce the loss of the Boeing 777, which vanished off radars on March 8 with 239 people aboard.

"We don't have a final date but once we've had an official loss recorded we can work with the next of kin on the full compensation payments for those families," he was quoted as saying.

An industry source familiar with the MH370 saga said once the plane is declared lost, all search efforts will be stopped.

"The talk has been that the search has been futile so far and it's unlikely to bring anything," he said.

In a statement Monday, Malaysia Airlines distanced itself from Dunleavy's comments, saying it was his personal opinion and "ongoing search and recovery operations will remain and will not be discontinued".

It said any information regarding MH370 will only be communicated by the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) in Australia.

Officials at the JACC said Tuesday that Dunleavy's comments were "greatly disturbing for the families and loved ones of the passengers and crew on board MH370", reiterating Australia's commitment to the search.

MH370 inexplicably disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in what remains one of history's great aviation mysteries.

Australia has been spearheading the hunt for the plane, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean off western Australia.

Some next-of-kin bitterly accuse the Malaysian government and airline of a bungled response and cover-up, charges that they have strenuously denied.

A Malaysian family last month sued the government and the airline for negligence in what is believed to be the first lawsuit filed over the disaster.


Source : Sapa-AFP /gq
Date : 11 Nov 2014 10:21
 
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