White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at a press briefing that based on new information, the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight may be opened in the Indian Ocean.
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Earlier search areas included off the coast of Vietnam and in the Strait of Malacca.
Now the search has expanded to the Indian Ocean and off the coast of India!
The Daily Mail reported:
The mystery surrounding the fate of the Malaysia Airlines plane which went missing almost six days ago has deepened amid claims that satellites were still receiving data from the aircraft after it went missing.
A source close to the investigation has said the flight MH370, which was travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 on board, sent a brief signal, or ‘ping’, to satellites in space after it had lost contact with ground control.
The development comes as Malaysian authorities attempted to downplay the theories springing up around the fate of the aircraft, and as the U.S. confirms it could start searching the Indian Ocean for debris – rather than the South China Sea.
The ‘ping’ is not through to have contained any information about the condition or trajectory of the plane, but merely to confirm that the aircraft existed and that it was possible to contact it.
The system transmits such pings about once an hour, sources said, but it remains unclear how many signals the plane sent after air traffic control lost track of it.Boeing Co, which made the missing 777 airliner, and Rolls-Royce, which supplied its Trent engines, declined to comment.
Earlier Malaysian officials denied reports that the aircraft had continued to send technical data after losing contact.
Meanwhile Malaysian authorities expanded their search westward towards India today, and a senior Pentagon official suggested there was ‘an indication’ the plane came down in the Indian ocean.
The new search map includes the Indian Ocean, India and mainland China!
U.S. officials believe the missing plane could have come down in the Indian Ocean (left), rather than the South China Sea (right), while speculation that the plane could have kept flying for four hours after losing contact were described as ‘inaccurate’. (Daily Mail)