Aerial search to locate missing Malaysian plane ends

Adelaide-based GeoResonance yesterday claimed that it may have found the wreckage of the crashed Malaysian jet in the Bay of Bengal, even as countries searching for the plane said they were assessing the “credibility of this information”.  

Meanwhile, autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin 21, a US Navy probe equipped with side-scan sonar which is scouring the ocean floor for traces of the lost plane, has completed mission 16, the JACC said.

In a statement, it said Bluefin-21, which has completed its search of the 314 sq km zone around the area where signals were detected by the Towed Pinger Locator, will continue to search adjacent areas.

“Mission 17 will commence when weather conditions improve allowing Bluefin-21 to be safely launched from Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield,” it said, adding the Ocean Shield ship would remain on station supporting Bluefin-21's search activity.

The Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight MH370-carrying 239 people, including five Indians, an Indo-Canadian and 154 Chinese nationals - had mysteriously vanished on March 8 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.

The mystery of the missing plane continued to baffle aviation and security authorities who have so far not succeeded in tracking the aircraft despite deploying hi-tech radar and other gadgets.