MH370: Possible Debris Sighting Fires Up Search

The search for Malaysia Airlines MH370 has more focus on Sunday  after promising sightings on Saturday. China’s state news agency Xinhua reported that a Chinese military plane had spotted three floating objects from an altitude of 300m. The objects spotted were white, red and orange. 

It is hoped a Chinese search vessel will be in a position to recover the debris this morning and the Australian Maritime Safety Administration (AMSA) says the search is focused on an area about 1,850 kilometres west of Perth. 
 
An area of about 319,000 square kilometres has been identified and ten planes are planned to be involved in the search. They include three Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P3 Orions, a Japanese P3 Orion, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Air Force Ilyushin IL-76, a Republic of Korea P3 Orion, a United States Navy P8 Poseidon, two Malaysian Air Force C-130 Hercules 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 vessel Jinggang Shan have arrived in the search area. A further six ships should arrive in the area by Monday. 
 
The ANZAC class frigate HMAS Toowoomba left Perth yesterday evening and is due to arrive in the search area in about three days. The ADV Ocean Shield is scheduled to depart from Perth on Monday (local time) after being fitted with a black box detector and an autonomous underwater vehicle. 
 
All ships in the search area are being tasked to locate and identify the objects sighted by aircraft over the past two days. Weather in the search area is forecast to worsen with light showers and low cloud, though search operations are expected to continue.