Australia will continue pursuing 'best lead' on MH370
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E-mail Xinhua, March 22, 2014
The suspicious objects spotted on satellite in the southern Indian Ocean remain "the best lead" in the massive search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, Australia's acting prime minister said?in Perth Saturday.
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| Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss (C) attends a news conference at Pearce Airbase near Perth, Australia, on March 22, 2014. [Lui Siu Wai/Xinhua] |
The objects might have either drifted or sunk, but "if there's something to be found, I'm confident this search will find it," Warren Truss told a press conference.
The hunt will continue "indefinitely" until "we are absolutely satisfied that further searching would be futile," he said. "That day is not in sight."
In response to Xinhua queries, he said there are many explanations for the satellite images provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) but they remain "a very credible lead."
What Australia needs to do now is exert all possible efforts to search for the missing plane, he told Xinhua.
On Thursday, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said that satellite images had spotted two objects in the southern Indian Ocean possibly related to the Boeing 777 aircraft which disappeared early March 8 while carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
The discovery led the multinational search forces to focus on a 36,000-square-km sea area about 2,500 km southwest of Perth, but so far there have been no findings of note.
On Saturday, four P-3 Orion maritime surveillance aircraft and two ultra-long-range commercial jets are expected to search the area, according to the AMSA.
Meanwhile, two Chinese military aircraft arrived in Perth on Saturday afternoon and will join the search on Sunday.
