Australia: 'Credible lead' shifts jet search area
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| A woman wipes her tears as she joins a ceremony in memory of passengers on board the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Thursday, March 27, 2014. Australian officials say search operations for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have been suspended for the day due to bad weather. |
PERTH, Australia
(AP) -- The search zone for the Malaysia airliner that crashed in
the Indian Ocean nearly three weeks ago has shifted 1,100 kilometers
(680 miles) to the northeast of where planes and ships had been looking
for possible debris because of a "new credible lead," Australia said
Friday.
The revised search area comes as the
weather cleared enough Friday to allow planes to hunt for fresh clues to
the fate of the plane carrying 239 people that went missing March 8.
The
Australian Maritime Safety Authority said the change came after updated
the new information is based on continuing analysis of radar data
between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca before radar
contact was lost with the Boeing 777.
It said
the analysis indicated the aircraft was travelling faster than
previously estimated, resulting in increased fuel use and reducing the
possible distance the aircraft could have flown into the Indian Ocean.
The
new area is 319,000 square kilometers (123,000 square miles) and about
1,850 kilometers (1,250 miles) west of Perth, Australia, the launching
area for the search. The pervious search area was more southwest and
about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) from Perth.
"This is a credible new lead and will be thoroughly investigated today," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Friday.
"This
is an extraordinarily difficult search, and an agonizing wait for
family and friends of the passengers and crew," he said. "We owe it to
them to follow every credible lead and to keep the public informed of
significant new developments. That is what we are doing."
