“Retrieval and analysis of such evidence is the responsibility of the Government of Malaysia,” said ATSB in the update emailed by Communications Officer, Daniel J T O’Malley, for the Operational Search for MH370.
Australia, via ATSB, was continuing to support Malaysia where appropriate with the examination of debris, said the update.
The ATSB said the finding of debris on islands in the Indian Ocean, and along the east and south coasts of Africa, was consistent with drift modelling by the Commonwealth Scientific Industrial and Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia.
“It affirms the focus of search efforts in the southern Indian Ocean,” said the email.
Elsewhere, gale force winds with seas up to nine metres was expected in the south of the search area. However, search operations in the north of the search area were expected to be unaffected.
Among key developments this week, the ATSB re-confirmed three aspects from the last update:
- Fugro Equator was in the search area and conducting operations;
- Dong Hai Jiu 101 remains at anchor off Fremantle;
- It’s expected that searching the entire 120,000 square kilometre target area will be completed by Christmas Day.
More than 110,000 square kilometres of the seafloor have been searched so far.
Australia accepted responsibility for the search of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 at the request of the Malaysian Government.
The ATSB is leading the underwater search for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean.
MH370 disappeared, with 239 people on board, on a routine flight on March 8, 2014 between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing. Most of the passengers were from China. There were six Australian nationals and permanent residents on board the ill-fated aircraft.
It’s known that MH370 stopped short of Vietnam and turned back. It was tracked, by Malaysian military radar, flying across the Malay peninsula before being seen over Pulau Perak in the Straits of Malacca.
The aircraft made for the northern tip of Sumatra. Thereafter, the whereabouts of the aircraft remains a complete mystery.
Hourly pings – electronic handshakes – between the aircraft and a satellite indicate it made for the 7th Arc in the southern Indian Ocean, the current search zone.