MH370 remains untraceable: Search authorities

MELBOURNE: Authorities have so far failed to produce a breakthrough in locating any wreckage from the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 even after 263 days of scouring the remote southern Indian Ocean.
Search authorities in Australia have said so far there was no breakthrough despite people in the west coast 'diligently reporting discoveries of potential debris'. None of the debris found until now have been connected to the missing plane, which disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board, including five Indians.
Ocean experts at CSIRO, who have undertaken modelling to identify areas where the debris of the plane could potentially be found, have had no luck yet, according to AAP news agency.

Initial analysis had suggested the first debris from the plane could come ashore at West Sumatra in Indonesia within 120 days of the crash. But no trace of the Boeing 777-200 operated by Malaysian Airlines has been found more than eight months after it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Search co-ordinator Peter Foley said people in WA and other Indian Ocean rim countries were regularly handing in flotsam and jetsam to police. Photographs are forwarded to experts at the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, Boeing and Malaysian investigators. "Every week we have had someone reporting something," he said.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said ships continue to conduct underwater search operations in the assigned search area.

Fugro Discovery arrived at Fremantle on November 23 for resupply. Following calibration testing on November 25 and 26, it is expected that the vessel will continue on to the search site.

ATSB said over 7,000 square kilometres of the seafloor have been searched so far.

Fugro Equator arrived in the search area on November 21 and commenced bathymetric survey operations. An additional 4,000 square kilometres have been surveyed so far.

GO Phoenix continued to conduct underwater search operations in the assigned search area this week and is due to depart the search area today to return to Fremantle for resupply.