Australia has released satellite images it says show 12 “probably man-made” objects floating in the sea near the suspected crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, reports The Guardian.
Taken two weeks after MH370 disappeared on March 8th 2014, the photos were analysed by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB). Its researchers used drift modelling of the debris to suggest a new potential location for the crash site — a 5,000 sq-km (1930 sq-miles) area just north of the former search zone.
Two Australian government agencies, Geoscience Australia and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), analysed the images, which were taken by a French military satellite but not released to the public.
The report said the detected objects appeared to form clusters, rather than being randomly scattered across the area.
The findings seemed to bolster the ATSB’s conclusion last November that the plane most likely crashed north of waters it spent more than two-and-a-half years searching. The CSIRO report provided precise coordinates —35.6°S, 92.8°E.
Researchers said they had a “high degree of confidence” that the drift models of the debris pointed to an impact site within that area, a part of the Indian Ocean that was not searched.
Greg Hood, Chief Commissioner of the ATSB, said the reports “may be useful in informing any further search effort that may be mounted in the future” but called for caution. “These objects have not been definitely identified as MH370 debris,” he said.
“The image resolution is not high enough to be certain whether the objects originated from MH370 or are other objects that might be found floating in oceans around the world.”