Two objects that may be wreckage from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been spotted floating in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia.
The Australian government released pictures taken by satellite on March 16 of possible plane debris seen around 2,500km (1,500miles) southwest of Perth - one of the most remote areas of the planet.
One of the objects is estimated to be 78ft (24m) in size, the other 15ft (five metres), and the sighting of the objects was said by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to be 'credible and potentially important'.
The debris was spotted on satellite imagery and a
total of four aircraft have been sent to investigate the sighting, some
1553 miles off the coast of Perth
Difficulties: This picture, taken on Thursday
morning on board a Royal Australian Air Force Orion plane, shows how
very poor visibility is hampering the search
Map: Four aircraft have been sent to the area, pictured, where the objects were spotted
Narrowed the search: Investigators have halved
the scope of the search for missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 to an
area roughly the size of Arizona, off the coast of Australia
A Royal Australian Air Force surveillance aircraft has already
completed a sweep of the search area and failed to find the objects. It
was reportedly hampered by poor visibility.
Andrew Nelson, a reporter for A Current Affair on Nine Network Australia, who travelled on board, said: 'From what we saw at the time there was no debris visible to us in that area.'
Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Thursday that 'we have a new and credible lead' that 'gives us hope'.
The credibility of the sighting is based partly on the fact that a satellite signal suggested the plane was somewhere in two broad arcs - either to the northwest towards Kazakhstan or to the southwest in the Indian Ocean.
The two objects are at the far end of the southerly corridor.
U.S, Australian, New Zealand, Malaysian and UK search aircraft and naval vessels have been dispatched to the area, with significant radar pings reportedly being returned to one U.S surveillance plane from the objects' location.
The Royal Navy's HMS Echo is part of the search armada, which totals 25 aircraft and 18 ships.
According to the Royal Navy website HMS Echo is mid-way through an 18-month deployment to improve charts used by seafarers across the world.
The British ship has been in the Gulf conducting hydrographic surveying - but will now join the search for flight MH370.
One expert said it could take two days to find the objects and confirm what they are.
Michael Daniel, a retired United States Federal Aviation Administration official told The Straits Times: 'If they have a strong feeling or indication that the debris belongs to the aircraft, one of the first things authorities will do is drop sonar buoys in the water.
'If the black box is there, the buoys should be able to pick up the signals. This could take up to 48 hours but it all depends on how near or far the ships and other assets are.'
The area is so far away - a distance from Perth equivalent to that from London to Moscow - that planes will only be able to spend a limited amount of time there before needing to return to base to refuel.
John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said at an afternoon press conference that the aircraft already in the area would be joined by three others later on Thursday. A merchant ship dispatched in the search operation was also due to arrive around 6p.m. Canberra time, 10am UK time.
The
imagery, from U.S. company DigitalGlobe Inc, was progressively captured
by satellites passing over the area and analysed by the Australian
Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation. Andrew Nelson, a reporter for A Current Affair on Nine Network Australia, who travelled on board, said: 'From what we saw at the time there was no debris visible to us in that area.'
Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Thursday that 'we have a new and credible lead' that 'gives us hope'.
The credibility of the sighting is based partly on the fact that a satellite signal suggested the plane was somewhere in two broad arcs - either to the northwest towards Kazakhstan or to the southwest in the Indian Ocean.
The two objects are at the far end of the southerly corridor.
U.S, Australian, New Zealand, Malaysian and UK search aircraft and naval vessels have been dispatched to the area, with significant radar pings reportedly being returned to one U.S surveillance plane from the objects' location.
The Royal Navy's HMS Echo is part of the search armada, which totals 25 aircraft and 18 ships.
According to the Royal Navy website HMS Echo is mid-way through an 18-month deployment to improve charts used by seafarers across the world.
The British ship has been in the Gulf conducting hydrographic surveying - but will now join the search for flight MH370.
One expert said it could take two days to find the objects and confirm what they are.
Michael Daniel, a retired United States Federal Aviation Administration official told The Straits Times: 'If they have a strong feeling or indication that the debris belongs to the aircraft, one of the first things authorities will do is drop sonar buoys in the water.
'If the black box is there, the buoys should be able to pick up the signals. This could take up to 48 hours but it all depends on how near or far the ships and other assets are.'
The area is so far away - a distance from Perth equivalent to that from London to Moscow - that planes will only be able to spend a limited amount of time there before needing to return to base to refuel.
John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said at an afternoon press conference that the aircraft already in the area would be joined by three others later on Thursday. A merchant ship dispatched in the search operation was also due to arrive around 6p.m. Canberra time, 10am UK time.
Commercial satellites have been tasked with collecting higher resolution images of the floating objects.
Mr Young said visibility was poor in the area, hampering both air and satellite efforts and he estimated the water in the location where the debris was spotted to be several thousand feet deep.
'I must emphasize that these objects may be very difficult to locate,' he told reporters.
Search area: The objects spotted by satellite are in one of the most remote areas of the planet in waters thousands of feet deep
This Google Earth map shows just how remote the search area is
MH370's pilots: Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah
(left) and co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid (right). The final words from the
flight - 'all right, good night' - were spoken by Hamid
Recovery mission begins: John Young, pictured,
of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said at an afternoon press
conference that one aircraft is already on scene searching the area, and
three others were on their way to help with the search
WHY THE OBJECTS SPOTTED ARE SIGNIFICANT: MH370'S DIMENSIONS
Its size and shape has been deemed significant by experts, who say that it may be wreckage from the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight.
These are the dimensions of the Boeing 777-200ER, according to the Boeing website:
- Wing span 60.9 meters (199 feet 10 ins)
- Overall length 63.7 meters (209 feet)
- Tail Height 18.5 meters (60 feet 9 ins)
- Fuselage Diameter 6.19 meters (20 feet 4 ins)
'The images captured by satellite may not be related to the aircraft,' he said. 'The objects are relatively indistinct. They may not be related to the search.'
It is not uncommon for cargo to fall off a container ship into the water, Mr Young said.
However, he said the fact the objects were in the designated search area and there were two of them of varying sizes 'really makes it worth looking at.'
The depth of the water where the possible debris has been sighted would likely make recovering the 'black box' voice and data recorders that may finally unlock the mystery of what happened aboard Flight MH370 extremely challenging.
Planes and ships will be searching a deep-water area around the size of the English Channel, with currents possibly having pushed the debris up to 600 miles from its last known location in any one of several directions.
University of Western Australia Professor of Oceanography Charitha Pattiaratchi said that, based on currents in the area, if the debris is from the plane, it probably would have gone into the water around 300-400 km (180-250 miles) to the west.
The search area covers an ocean ridge known as Naturalist Plateau, a large sea shelf about 3,500 metres (9,800 feet) deep, Pattiaratchi said. The plateau is about 250 km (150 miles) wide by 400 km (250 miles) long, and the area around it is close to 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) deep.
'Whichever way you go, it's deep,' he said.
These waters are twice as deep as those that Air France flight AF447 crashed in en route between Rio de Janiero in Brazil and Paris in June 2009. It took two years for its black box to be recovered.
David Gallo, who co-led the search for Air France Flight 447, has told CNN the largest item identified in the satellite image could be the missing plane's tail.
'It's a big piece of aircraft to have survived something like this,' he said.
The aircraft sent to the site include two Royal Australian Air Force Orion planes, a Royal New Zealand Orion and a U.S. Navy P-8A Poseidon, the world's most advanced maritime surveillance plane.
A New Zealand C130 Hercules has been tasked to drop data marker buoys, which provide information about water movement. That information will be useful if the search becomes protracted, Mr Young said.
If one of the planes spots the objects, it will report back an accurate GPS coordinate. The object would then be recovered and transported back to shore by the HMAS Success, which is, according to Mr Young, 'equipped to recover any object that might be found.'
The HMAS Success, an Australian supply and logistics ship, is currently en route to the area, though is not due to arrive for several days.
When asked if the objects were the size of 'a basketball or seat cushion,' Mr Young said one was 24 meters in size - or 78ft - and another was smaller.
He said there were a number of additional objects in the vicinity of the larger piece of wreckage but he added the current imagery was not clear enough to make out whether the pieces appeared to be from a plane.
THE EXTRAORDINARY TECHNICAL CHALLENGE FACING THE MULTINATIONAL SEARCH TEAMS IN THEIR EFFORTS TO FIND MH370
The search for the objects spotted southwest of Perth is unprecedented in its technical difficulty.
The multinational assortment of ships and planes dispatched to the location must search an area the size of the English Channel for an object just 24 metres in length that could have drifted up to 600 miles in any direction from when it was spotted four days ago.
It may also have sunk completely.
One expert told Sky News that it is 'one of the most hostile regions on earth'.
University of Western Australia Professor of Oceanography Charitha Pattiaratchi said that, based on currents in the area, if the debris is from the plane, it probably would have gone into the water around 300-400 km (180-250 miles) to the west.
The search area covers an ocean ridge known as Naturalist Plateau, a large sea shelf about 3,500 metres (9,800 feet) deep, Pattiaratchi said. The plateau is about 250 km (150 miles) wide by 400 km (250 miles) long, and the area around it is close to 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) deep.
'Whichever way you go, it's deep,' he said.
These waters are twice as deep as those that Air France flight AF447 crashed in en route between Rio de Janiero in Brazil and Paris in June 2009. It took two years for its black box to be recovered.
David Gleave, an aviation safety researcher at Loughborough University, said if the objects are positively identified then the search will intensify in a bid to find the rest of the aircraft.
He said this is because, as each day passes, ocean currents will widen the possible search area by many miles.
The battery life in the black box is also more likely to run out, making locating the plane under the surface extremely difficult.
‘Working on the big assumption that it is part of the plane then they need to establish the exact location, which they have done,’ he said.
‘They may then place a buoy with it so they can continue to track it and there will be a navy ship diverted to the search area.
‘If it is then identified as part of a plane, they would secure the wreckage so it does not sink with flotation attachments, and the search area around it would be intensified.’
Mr Gleave said experts would then be brought in to start mapping the ocean floor and establish how far it could have drifted.
‘Each day you could be adding a lot of sea area to the search, because of the ocean currents. And the longer it takes the battery life on the black box is less likely to last,’ he said.
‘Oceanographers will be brought in to estimate how far they expect it to have drifted and a guided search for the plane would begin.
‘In searches like that you look for clues on the surface and under the sea you listen for anything that the black box is pinging; however, that may have been disabled.
‘If the plane is found, say 12,000ft (3,658m) down, then you need remotely controlled submarines with cameras on board to go to the bottom of the ocean.
‘The key will be whether there is any data on the flight recorders. Once they have them on the surface they have to be taken to the relevant organisation to read the data.
‘Once it's taken to be read you then have to dry the boxes out, which takes just over a day, and then you can start to access the information.’
The multinational assortment of ships and planes dispatched to the location must search an area the size of the English Channel for an object just 24 metres in length that could have drifted up to 600 miles in any direction from when it was spotted four days ago.
It may also have sunk completely.
One expert told Sky News that it is 'one of the most hostile regions on earth'.
University of Western Australia Professor of Oceanography Charitha Pattiaratchi said that, based on currents in the area, if the debris is from the plane, it probably would have gone into the water around 300-400 km (180-250 miles) to the west.
The search area covers an ocean ridge known as Naturalist Plateau, a large sea shelf about 3,500 metres (9,800 feet) deep, Pattiaratchi said. The plateau is about 250 km (150 miles) wide by 400 km (250 miles) long, and the area around it is close to 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) deep.
'Whichever way you go, it's deep,' he said.
These waters are twice as deep as those that Air France flight AF447 crashed in en route between Rio de Janiero in Brazil and Paris in June 2009. It took two years for its black box to be recovered.
David Gleave, an aviation safety researcher at Loughborough University, said if the objects are positively identified then the search will intensify in a bid to find the rest of the aircraft.
He said this is because, as each day passes, ocean currents will widen the possible search area by many miles.
The battery life in the black box is also more likely to run out, making locating the plane under the surface extremely difficult.
‘Working on the big assumption that it is part of the plane then they need to establish the exact location, which they have done,’ he said.
‘They may then place a buoy with it so they can continue to track it and there will be a navy ship diverted to the search area.
‘If it is then identified as part of a plane, they would secure the wreckage so it does not sink with flotation attachments, and the search area around it would be intensified.’
Mr Gleave said experts would then be brought in to start mapping the ocean floor and establish how far it could have drifted.
‘Each day you could be adding a lot of sea area to the search, because of the ocean currents. And the longer it takes the battery life on the black box is less likely to last,’ he said.
‘Oceanographers will be brought in to estimate how far they expect it to have drifted and a guided search for the plane would begin.
‘In searches like that you look for clues on the surface and under the sea you listen for anything that the black box is pinging; however, that may have been disabled.
‘If the plane is found, say 12,000ft (3,658m) down, then you need remotely controlled submarines with cameras on board to go to the bottom of the ocean.
‘The key will be whether there is any data on the flight recorders. Once they have them on the surface they have to be taken to the relevant organisation to read the data.
‘Once it's taken to be read you then have to dry the boxes out, which takes just over a day, and then you can start to access the information.’
Aircraft: The above Royal Australian Air Force
AP-3C Orion aircraft from 10 Squadron is to join the Australian Maritime
Safety Authority-led search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the
southern Indian Ocean today
Debris spotted: Australian Prime Minister Tony
Abbott pictured today in Canberra, said two pieces of debris had been
spotted on satellite imagery and aircraft were being sent to investigate
THE BAFFLING SEARCH FOR MH370: HOW EVENTS UNFOLDED
Uncertainty and frustration has clouded the mystery over the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.
A series of false leads has added to wide-ranging speculation that pilot error, plane malfunction, hijacking or terrorism may have been the cause.
March 8 - Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 takes off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am local time bound for Beijing carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew.
Someone, apparently the co-pilot, makes the final voice communication from the cockpit at 01.19am, saying 'All right, good night' to air traffic controllers.
The plane is last seen on military radar at 02.14am heading west over the Strait of Malacca. Half an hour later the airline reveals to the public it has lost contact with the plane. The plane was due to land around 6.30am.
Officials reveal two passports used to board the flight were stolen, raising the first suspicions of terrorist involvement.
March 9 - Malaysia's air force chief says that military radar indicated the missing Boeing 777 jet may have turned back.
March 10 - Vietnamese aircraft search for a plane door spotted in their waters but find nothing.
March 11 - The hunt is widened to cover a 115-nautical mile radius involving 34 aircraft and 40 ships from several countries.
The Malaysian military claims it has radar evidence showing that the missing plane changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait which is hundreds of miles away from the last location reported by civilian authorities.
March 12 - Satellite images on a Chinese government website shows suspected debris from the missing plane floating off the southern tip of Vietnam, China's Xinhua News Agency says.
The report includes co-ordinates of a location in the sea off the southern tip of Vietnam and east of Malaysia, near the plane's original flight path.
March 13 - Malaysian authorities expand their search for the missing jet into the Andaman Sea and beyond after acknowledging it could have flown for several more hours after its last contact with the ground.
March 15 - Prime Minister Najib Razak's says the missing airliner was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after losing contact with the ground.
March 16 - The search area now includes 11 countries the plane might have flown over. The number of countries involved in the operation had increased from 14 to 25.
March 17 - Officials release a new timeline suggesting the final voice transmission from the cockpit of the missing Malaysian plane may have occurred before any of its communications systems were disabled.
Investigators have not ruled out hijacking, sabotage, or pilot suicide, and they are checking the backgrounds of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members, as well as the ground crew, to see if links to terrorists, personal problems or psychological issues could be factors.
March 18 - Ten days after a Malaysian jetliner disappeared, Thailand's military said it saw radar blips that might have been from the missing plane but did not report it 'because we did not pay attention to it'.
March 19 - Distressed relatives of the missing passengers threaten to go on hunger strike over the lack of information about the investigation.
March 20 - Two objects which could be connected to the missing jet are detected in the southern India Ocean, the Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said.
A series of false leads has added to wide-ranging speculation that pilot error, plane malfunction, hijacking or terrorism may have been the cause.
March 8 - Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 takes off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am local time bound for Beijing carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew.
Someone, apparently the co-pilot, makes the final voice communication from the cockpit at 01.19am, saying 'All right, good night' to air traffic controllers.
The plane is last seen on military radar at 02.14am heading west over the Strait of Malacca. Half an hour later the airline reveals to the public it has lost contact with the plane. The plane was due to land around 6.30am.
Officials reveal two passports used to board the flight were stolen, raising the first suspicions of terrorist involvement.
March 9 - Malaysia's air force chief says that military radar indicated the missing Boeing 777 jet may have turned back.
March 10 - Vietnamese aircraft search for a plane door spotted in their waters but find nothing.
March 11 - The hunt is widened to cover a 115-nautical mile radius involving 34 aircraft and 40 ships from several countries.
The Malaysian military claims it has radar evidence showing that the missing plane changed course and made it to the Malacca Strait which is hundreds of miles away from the last location reported by civilian authorities.
March 12 - Satellite images on a Chinese government website shows suspected debris from the missing plane floating off the southern tip of Vietnam, China's Xinhua News Agency says.
The report includes co-ordinates of a location in the sea off the southern tip of Vietnam and east of Malaysia, near the plane's original flight path.
March 13 - Malaysian authorities expand their search for the missing jet into the Andaman Sea and beyond after acknowledging it could have flown for several more hours after its last contact with the ground.
March 15 - Prime Minister Najib Razak's says the missing airliner was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after losing contact with the ground.
March 16 - The search area now includes 11 countries the plane might have flown over. The number of countries involved in the operation had increased from 14 to 25.
March 17 - Officials release a new timeline suggesting the final voice transmission from the cockpit of the missing Malaysian plane may have occurred before any of its communications systems were disabled.
Investigators have not ruled out hijacking, sabotage, or pilot suicide, and they are checking the backgrounds of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members, as well as the ground crew, to see if links to terrorists, personal problems or psychological issues could be factors.
March 18 - Ten days after a Malaysian jetliner disappeared, Thailand's military said it saw radar blips that might have been from the missing plane but did not report it 'because we did not pay attention to it'.
March 19 - Distressed relatives of the missing passengers threaten to go on hunger strike over the lack of information about the investigation.
March 20 - Two objects which could be connected to the missing jet are detected in the southern India Ocean, the Australian prime minister Tony Abbott said.
'AMSA is doing its level best to find anyone who might have survived,' Mr Young added.
'If these objects are from the aircraft, that will put us in a more accurate search corridor to what we have at the moment.'
'This is a lead, it is probably the best lead we have right now.'
Malaysia confirmed in a statement that Mr Abbott called Prime Minister Najib Razak in Kuala Lumpur to inform him of the developments at around 10a.m local time.
The potentially huge breakthrough in the disappearance was announced after investigators halved the scope of the search for the passenger aircraft to an area roughly the size of Arizona late Wednesday.
Malaysia's Acting Transportation Secretary Hishammuddin Hussein said in a statement: 'At this stage, Australian officials have yet to establish whether these objects are indeed related to the search for MH370.'
There have already been several false alarms of what were said to be pieces of the aircraft being seen in waters on both sides of the Malaysian peninsula.
He did not say where the objects were. But due to the distance of the search area from the Australian coast it takes the Orion aircraft four hours to reach the search zone, leaving them only two hours to search before they have to turn back to refuel.
At the Canberra press conference, Air Commodore John McGarry from the Australian Defence Force said other nations had offered to help in the search for the objects but, due to their extremely remote location, very few aircraft could access it.
The search had been drastically narrowed Wednesday to two possible flight paths after hourly satellite pings detected from the aircraft provided far more information than expected as to where a wreck may be found.
Military planes from Australia, the U.S. and New Zealand began covering a search region over the southern Indian Ocean stretching 117,000 sq miles down from 232,000 sq miles.
Both of the routes were heading toward the South Pole and ended in the Indian Ocean, some 1429 miles from Perth, ABC News reported Wednesday. The calculations were at that point handed over to Australian officials and the county's search and rescue crews began combing the area.
Earlier Wednesday Malaysian officials confirmed they received 'some radar data' from other countries about the missing Flight MH370 - but claimed they were 'not at liberty' to release the information.
Speaking at a press conference Wednesday afternoon, acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysia was continuing to co-ordinate the search for the missing Boeing 777-200ER.
He added: 'I can confirm that we have received some radar data, but we are not at liberty to release information from other countries.
'I appeal to all our partners to continue volunteering any and all information that could help with the investigation and the search for MH370.'
Meanwhile, distraught family members of the missing passengers were removed from the press conference.
Moments before officials spoke to the media, half a dozen furious relatives stormed the conference - blaming the Malaysian government of failing to work hard enough to find the plane.
The group had banners - most which which blamed the government of inaction - as airline officials desperately tried to resume order.
In dramatic scenes, one woman shouted: 'You are traitors to us... you have let us down. Tell us the truth! We want the truth!'
Agony: Relatives of Chinese passengers aboard
the missing Malaysia Airlines, MH370 gather at a hotel ballroom as they
wait for a news briefing by the airlines' officials on Thursday
Enlarge
Hishammuddin Hussein (centre) told a news
conference Malaysia had received 'some radar data' but were 'not at
liberty' to release information from other countries
Hishammuddin Hussein said he 'fully understands' the frustration of the relatives of the missing passengers and said a high-level delegation was being sent to Beijing to speak to the families.
He later ordered an inquiry into the incident where security guards carried out the distraught mother of one of the passengers.
The families of the two pilots are also struggling to cope.
'It is very agonizing for the family, and the media is not helping at all,' said Mohammed Ghouse, a longtime friend of [pilot] Zaharie [Ahmad Shah]'s brother-in-law, according to The Washington Post.
'The daughter especially is very upset. She was very close to her father.'
Thai military yesterday said they picked up an
unidentified aircraft on radar bearing off the flight path, heading left
over Malaysia and towards the Strait of Malacca
It was reported that pilot Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah had programmed a remote island in the middle of the Indian Ocean with a runway long enough to land a Boeing 777 into his home flight simulator.
A U.S. official said the Malaysian government is seeking the FBI's help in analyzing any electronic files deleted last month from the pilot's simulator.
The official, speaking anonymously, said the FBI has been provided electronic data to analyze.
CNN also reported investigators at Quantico, a Marine Corps base and home to FBI labs, were examining 'hard drives belonging to two pilots':
Malaysia's defense minister said iinvestigators were trying to restore files deleted from the simulator last month to see if they shed any light on the disappearance.
Files containing records of simulations carried out on the program were deleted February 3.
THE FBI TO ANALYSE FILES FROM PILOT'S FLIGHT SIMULATOR
A U.S.
official said the Malaysian government is seeking the FBI's help in
analyzing any electronic files deleted last month from the home flight
simulator of the pilot of the missing Malaysian plane.
Malaysia's defense minister said earlier Wednesday that investigators were trying to restore files deleted last month from the home simulator used by the pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, to see if they shed any light on the disappearance.
Files containing records of simulations carried out on the program were deleted Feb. 3.
At the news conference today, Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters that 'I don't think we have any theories" about what happened to the plane but said the FBI has been in touch with Malaysian investigators about providing any help that it can.
'We are in ongoing conversations about how we can help and we will make available whatever resources that we have, whatever expertise we have, that might be able to be used,' Holder said.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with 239 people aboard disappeared March 8 on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Malaysia's defense minister said earlier Wednesday that investigators were trying to restore files deleted last month from the home simulator used by the pilot, Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, to see if they shed any light on the disappearance.
Files containing records of simulations carried out on the program were deleted Feb. 3.
At the news conference today, Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters that 'I don't think we have any theories" about what happened to the plane but said the FBI has been in touch with Malaysian investigators about providing any help that it can.
'We are in ongoing conversations about how we can help and we will make available whatever resources that we have, whatever expertise we have, that might be able to be used,' Holder said.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with 239 people aboard disappeared March 8 on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
However, he said the FBI has been in touch with Malaysian investigators about providing any help that it can.
'We are in ongoing conversations about how we can help and we will make available whatever resources that we have, whatever expertise we have, that might be able to be used,' Mr Holder said.
Suggestions the flight may have deliberately been changed were challenged by the acting transport minister today.
In words that appeared to rubbish a Reuters report suggesting MH370 used waypoints, or navigational points, after losing contact with ground control, he said: 'I am aware of speculation that additional waypoints were added to the aircraft’s flight routing. I can confirm that the aircraft flew on normal routing up until the waypoint IGARI. There is no additional waypoint on MH370’s documented flight plan, which depicts normal routing all the way to Beijing.'
Investigators at the conference also rubbished reports the plane may have been sighted over the Maldives.
Some residents of Kudahuvadhoo, one of the most remote parts of the area, said they saw a low-flying aircraft on the morning the flight's disappearance. Hishammuddin Hussein said these were false.
Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 with 239 people aboard disappeared March 8 on a night flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
It is now 13 days after it vanished from air traffic control screens off Malaysia's east coast at 1:21am local time.
Thousands of well-wishers have written on a prayer wall at Kuala Lumpur Airport, begging MH370 and its passengers to come home.
An unprecedented search for the plane is under way involving 26 nations in two vast search 'corridors'.
A woman look at the thousands of messages left for those missing aboard the flight at Kuala Lumpur Airport
The 'prayer wall' was started soon after the craft disappeared on March 8. No sign of the plane has been found
One of the corridors arches north overland from Laos towards the Caspian Sea, while the other curves south across the Indian Ocean from west of Indonesia's Sumatra island to west of Australia.
Another theory, predicted by a veteran pilot, suggests the flight was in trouble and simply heading for the nearest safe airport when it turned off-course.
Also reported Wednesday was the fact the U-turn made by the missing jet is believed to have been programmed into the on board computer before the last radio contact was made with the co-pilot.
A leading aviation expert on Tuesday suggested Asian military officials may be staging a mass cover-up because they do not want to expose gaping holes within their countries' air defenses.
The jet went missing shortly after 1am - but it wasn't until the following Tuesday that the Malaysian Air Force reported they had spotted the aircraft on radar over the Strait of Malacca at 2.15am.
Holding back: Aviation expert David Learmount suggested some countries may be withholding radar information
Thailand's military said Tuesday they detected a plane at 1.28am, eight minutes after MH370's communications went down, heading towards the Strait but did not share the information because they were not asked for it.
Writing on his blog, aviation expert David Learmount said: 'Maybe these states' air defences, like Malaysia's, are not what they are cracked up to be.
'And maybe they wouldn’t want the rest of the world to know that.'
Mr Learmount, a former pilot and now operations and safety editor at the respected Flight Global publication, points out that MH370 might have flown over several Asian countries including Thailand, Burma, China, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Turkmenistan and Afghanistan.
If it emerges that an unidentified aircraft had been able to fly over a territory undetected and unchallenged it would amount to an embarrassing security failure.
Regarding the Malaysian sighting Mr Learmount wrote: 'Clearly they had let an unidentified aircraft pass through Malaysian sovereign territory without bothering to identify it; not something they were happy to admit.
'The Malaysian government has called upon all the countries to the north-west as far as Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea to check their primary radar records for unidentified contacts in their airspace in the seven hours after the 777 went missing.
'Depending on the actual track the aircraft followed, if it had headed approximately north-west this could include some–if not all–of the following countries: Thailand, Myanmar/Burma, China, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkmenistan.
'If the aircraft had gone that way, surely military primary radar in one of those countries–or several–would have picked up the signal from this unidentified aircraft, and the vigilant radar operator would have scrambled a fighter to intercept the intruder?
'Wouldn't s/he? Or maybe not. Maybe these states' air defences, like Malaysia's, are not what they are cracked up to be. And maybe they wouldn't want the rest of the world to know that.'
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