AT LAST - IS IT MH370? Mystery objects found

FRESH seabed mapping of the MH370 search area has detected hard objects which are inconsistent with the region searchers believe the plane may have come down.

The objects have been identified with satellite-tracking data and flight-simulation analysis, The Times reports.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau Cheif Commissioner Martin Dolan told The Times that they were not sure if the objects were plane wreckage, and said they could be rock formations.

“There is nothing that has screamed out and said ‘I look like an aircraft’,” he said.

“It’s still a hell of an area. The area is horribly, horribly complicated.”

Experts from Australia, Britain and the US are confident they have narrowed the likely resting place to a smaller, 60,000 sq km arc in the Indian Ocean, 1,800km off the coast of Western Australia.

“The complexities surrounding the search cannot be understated. It involves vast areas of the Indian Ocean with only limited known data and aircraft flight information,” Mr Dolan said.

“While it is impossible to determine with certainty where the aircraft may have entered the water, all the available data indicates a highly probable search area close to a long but narrow arc of the southern Indian Ocean.

New area ... The Australian government’s updated map showing the smaller MH370 search area. Source: Supplied

“The search will be a major undertaking. The complexities and challenges involved are immense, but not impossible.

“The best minds from around the world have been reviewing, refining and localising the most likely area where the aircraft entered the water, which is why we remain confident of finding the aircraft.”

The latest developments from the search come after investigators now think MH370 turned south a little sooner than first thought.

Pre-deployment checks ... the Phoenix Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Artemis off the deck of Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield that was used to search for MH370. Source: Supplied

Federal Transport Minister Warren Truss revealed this when Australia signed a memorandum of understanding with Malaysia’s Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai in Canberra recently.

The Deputy Prime Minister said more research had been done in trying to trace the unsuccessful phone call Malaysia Airlines ground staff made to the plane when it disappeared from radar back in March.

In agreement ... Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, Malaysian Transport Minister DatoÕ Sri Liow Tiong Lai and Chinese Vice-Minister of Transport He Jianzhong in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith Source: News Corp Australia

“Some work has been done in endeavouring to map the position of the aircraft when a failed satellite telephone conversation was attempted between Malaysia Airlines on the ground and the aircraft.

Divers sent ... Able Seaman Clearance Divers Matthew Johnston and Michael Arnold scanned the water for debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Source: Supplied

“That has suggested to us that the aircraft may have turned south a little earlier than we had previously expected.”

For now, Mr Truss said “the search area” remains the same, but further refinement of satellite data has revealed areas to the south may be of “particular interest and priority”.

Malaysia’s Transport Minister said his country would be splitting the cost of the tender for the deep underwater search with Australia.

Last month the government announced Dutch company Fugro was awarded a contract to scour the ocean floor for wreckage.

The operation, which is due to begin next month, is expected to take a year and cost $52 million. -ANN