New information on missing MH370 flight shows it 'may have turned south earlier'
Further refinement of satellite data from aircraft indicates hunt must focus its priorities 'a little further south' inside search area, says Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss
Australia said today the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will focus on the southern part of the existing search zone after new information suggested it “may have turned south” earlier than thought.
The new detail came after “further refinement” of satellite data and as investigators attempted to map the position of the aircraft during a failed attempt to contact it earlier in its flight path, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said.
Some of the information that we now have suggests to us that areas a little further to the south – within the search area, but a little further to the south – are of particular interest and priority
“The search area remains the same, but some of the information that we now have suggests to us that areas a little further to the south – within the search area, but a little further to the south – are of particular interest and priority in the search area,” he said.
His comments came as Australia and Malaysia signed a memorandum of understanding in Canberra over the next phase of the hunt for the plane, which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
It is believed to have crashed into the southern Indian Ocean far off the west coast of Australia, but a massive air and sea search failed to find any wreckage while an underwater probe gave no answers.
Experts have now used technical data to finalise the most likely resting place of the aircraft deep on the ocean seabed and are preparing for a more intense underwater search, beginning next month.