Two pieces of wreckage that are possibly from the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 — one estimated to be 78ft in size — have been found to the west of Australia, it was announced today.
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.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the potential breakthrough to Parliament in Canberra Thursday, but warned the wreckage may not be from the missing flight.
John Young 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. A merchant ship dispatched in the search operation is due to arrive around 6p.m. local time.
The imagery, which was progressively captured by satellites passing over the area, has not yet been released to the media. Commercial satellites were 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.
Mr Young reiterated that it was too early to tell whether the objects spotted on satellite were related to MH370.
‘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.
‘The indication to me is that the objects are of a reasonable size and probably awash with water.’
The aircraft sent to the site include two Royal Australian Air Force Orion planes, a Royal New Zealand Orion and a U.S. Navy Posiedon, Daily Mail informs.
