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‘Riddle’ of lost Malaysian Airlines jet now 2 weeks old

Japanese Air Self-Defense Force loadmaster Takayuki Ogawa, right, and trained spotter Hiroshi Nakahara scan the ocean aboard a C-130 aircraft while it flies over the search area in the southeastern Indian Ocean on Friday. (Associated Press)
Rob Griffith Associated Press

PERTH, Australia – Three Australian planes took off at dawn today for a third day of scouring the desolate southern Indian Ocean for possible parts of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, now lost for two full weeks.

Australia promised its best efforts to resolve “an extraordinary riddle,” but two days of searching the seas about 1,550 miles southwest of Perth have not produced any evidence.

A satellite spotted two large objects in the area earlier this week, raising hopes of finding the Boeing 777 that disappeared March 8 with 239 people on board.

“It’s about the most inaccessible spot that you could imagine on the face of the Earth, but if there is anything down there, we will find it,” Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at a news conference in Papua New Guinea.

A total of six aircraft were to search the region today: two ultra-long-range commercial jets and four P-3 Orions, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.

Because of the distance to the area, the Orions will have enough fuel to search for two hours, while the commercial jets can stay for five hours before heading back to the base.

Two merchant ships were in the area, and the HMAS Success, a navy supply ship, was due to arrive this afternoon. Weather in the search zone was expected to be relatively good, with some cloud cover.

In Kuala Lumpur, where the plane took off for Beijing, Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein called the process “a long haul” as he thanked the more than two dozen countries involved in a search that stretches from Kazakhstan in Central Asia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Searchers on Friday relied mostly on trained spotters aboard the planes rather than radar, which found nothing Thursday, Australian officials said. The search will focus more on visual sightings because civilian aircraft are being brought in. The military planes will continue to use both radar and spotters.

“Noting that we got no radar detections yesterday, we have replanned the search to be visual. So aircraft flying relatively low, very highly skilled and trained observers looking out of the aircraft windows and looking to see objects,” said John Young, manager of the maritime safety authority’s emergency response division.