MH370 mystery deepens as Google Earth turns up new clues

An independent investigator searching for debris associated with the MH370 disaster claims he is using Google Earth to uncover new clues into the baffling mystery.

US statistician Mike Chillit says he used the global mapping site to study the water around Saint Brandon Island approximately 400 kilometres northeast of Mauritius in the six months after the plane disappeared in March 2014.

Chillit chose the area based on the path of drifters being used in a bid to narrow down his results for the missing plane.

Earlier in the week he posted a series of images onto his social media accounts highlighting objects he believes to be debris from the missing Boeing 777.

“I haven’t tried to use Google Earth for this before other than on Reunion where it picked up debris one week before the flaperon was found (in July 2015),” Mr Chillit told News Corp.

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“This does not look like vessel debris but it is hard to know. As far as I know the island has never been examined for debris.”

A significant amount of debris believed to be from the plane has been located off the east coast of Africa, however, the length of time it spent in the water remains a mystery.

Earlier last month Australian air crash investigators confirmed an aircraft part was found washed ashore the island of Mauritius did, in fact, come from flight MH370.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau said the item discovered in May was a trailing edge splice strap from a Boeing 777 left outboard flap.

A work order number on the part confirmed it was from the Malaysia Airlines plane, which disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people on board while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Despite an extensive search of the Southern Ocean, the aircraft wreckage has not been found.

But a number of parts that have washed up on Indian Ocean islands have been identified as coming from MH370.

In mid-September, the ATSB confirmed a piece of wreckage discovered on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania, was from MH370.

The latest piece was collected by a member of the Malayisan MH370 investigation team and delivered to the ATSB for identification.

Top news stories - November 30