MH370 still making news
Yet more debris has been found on the east coast of Africa and islands of the western Indian Ocean, and some items have been positively confirmed as being from the ill-fated B777 now missing for over 2½ years. American lawyer Blaine Wilson has produced a portion of outboard flap washed up in Tanzania in June that bears serial numbers linking it to the airliner.
The recovered material shows obvious signs of charring, as if exposed to a fire for a short period. Some observers have already stated that this development scotches the controlled ditching theory and suggests a fire onboard or an explosion resulting from violent contact with the ocean’s surface, while others lambast this theory and suggest that the charring could have occurred from a fire on a beach after the item was washed ashore, for example.
Recent news articles have reported that the current designated search area (due to conclude in December) is again called into question and that the search ought to be conducted further north, along what is known as the “seventh arc”, calculated from Inmarsat data, which also has recently indicated that the airliner’s rate of descent was more rapid towards the end of its flight.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has held its counsel throughout these developments. Relatives of the missing passengers are continuing to agitate and are urging Australia to take over the investigation fully as Malaysia has either bungled the whole affair or is acting in a duplicitous manner.
- Report by John King.
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