Malaysia plane disappearance: Search halts overnight

 

An international air search in the Indian Ocean for possible debris from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has ended for the day, officials have said.

A statement by Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said the four planes had searched the vast area without success.

"The search will continue on Friday," it said.

Two Australian Orion aircraft searching the area on Thursday were joined later by aircraft from the US and New Zealand.

Amsa said the aircraft had covered an area of 23,000 sq km (14,000 square miles).

The captain of the first Australian air force AP-3C Orion plane to return from the search area described the weather conditions as "extremely bad" with rough seas and high winds.

 David Wright, an ABC News reporter who was on the P-8 Poseidon, said all the sophisticated plane had spotted was "a freighter and two pods of dolphins".

 Satelite Information

London-based Inmarsat said its engineers realised at an early stage that the aircraft had probably flown for several hours on a northern or southern track, and it was very unlikely that the plane could have headed north over countries with sophisticated air defence systems.

The company further said that it had informed the Malaysian authorities of the information, through an intermediary company, on 12 March, but this was not publicly acknowledged until 15 March.

Furthermore, the authorities continued to search in the South China Sea and Malacca Straits during that time, despite the information suggesting that the plane had flown on much further.