By CCTV correspondent Tony Cheng
In Australia, authorities have intensified their search efforts to find any trace of the missing jetliner.
A search and rescue mission, scouring the seas, two and a half thousand miles from the coast of Western Australia. For 4 days these searches have tried to locate 2 pieces of debris, spotted by satellite, thought to belong to flight MH 370. But so far, no sign of those objects, or any other hard evidence that the missing airliner is here.
After a frustrating day on Thursday when bad weather hampered visibility, things improved. On Friday Australia’s maritime safety authority was able to send up 5 search planes into the target area for visual rather than radar searches. Even so, the task remains colossal.
The Royal Australian Air Force base commanding the flights suddenly fell into the centre of the media’s glare. But information is hard to find. The flights into the target area take ten hours, and images are being thoroughly scrutinized before being made public. The authorities are wary of making any more false starts in the hunt for the Malaysian jet.
"We have an Australian naval ship that is steaming as fast as it can to the area. It is an extremely remote part of the southern Indian Ocean. It is about 3,000 kilometres (1,864 miles) southwest of Perth. It’s about the most inaccessible spot that you could imagine on the face of the earth, but if there is anything down there we will find it. We owe it to the families of those people to do no less." said Tony Abbott, Australian Prime Minister.
Australian Prime Minister said all resources possible were being mobilized to join the search. He conceded the sighted debris could have sunk but the search would continue regardless.
RAAF Flight Lieutenant Russell Adams who piloted the AP-3C Orion search and rescue aircraft receives an interview after returning at Pearce Airbase near Perth, Australia, March 21, 2014. The lead Royal Australian Air force (RAAF) search plane has returned from the remote Southern Ocean on Friday with a squadron captain reporting no trace or possible sightings of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370. [Xu Yanyan/Xinhua] |