Satellites find bigger debris field
A Thai satellite has detected more than 300 objects in the southern Indian Ocean near the search area for Flight MH370
The find was reported only 24 hours after Malaysia revealed 122 objects were seen about 2557km from Perth, ranging in length from 1m to 23m.
Anond Snidvongs, of the Thai space technology development agency, said the images show 300 objects of various sizes about 2700km south-west of Perth.
The Thaichote satellite pictured them on Monday and they took two days to process before being relayed to Malaysia.
The objects, ranging from 2m to 15m, are about 200km from where a French satellite spotted the 122 objects. However, the air and sea search failed to locate any major body of debris before the air search was called off yesterday because of bad weather for the second time this week.
Capt. Mike MacSween, a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot on exchange with the RAAF, piloted the only Australian P3 Orion to make it to the search area before the weather closed in yesterday. He said the crew searched the area for about 2½ hours, mainly from about 500ft but did not see anything of note.
"It was definitely not ideal for visual search conditions," Capt. MacSween said. "The visibility was anywhere between five miles and basically zero."
He said the plane flew as low as 200ft (61m) to see the water.
The sea search continues with HMAS Success and four Chinese ships - the Xue Long, Kunlunshan, Haikou and Qiandaohu - in the area.
Capt. Allison Norris told _The West Australian _the Success would continue the search despite worsening weather.
It was operating in a sea of about 3m, visibility was down to 500m and the temperature had fallen to just 6C.
Capt. Norris said her crew was searching in a "racetrack" pattern laid out by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, with 900m between each circuit.
As well as radar, sailors were using binoculars and night vision devices.
with agencies
