The search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has begun on a scale unprecedented in aviation history.
On Saturday, Malaysia’s National Transportation Safety Bureau (NTSB) said its ships have located 370 objects that could be debris from the missing plane.
More than 400 aircraft and ships have been involved in the search, with a massive search effort now underway for the plane, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board.
There is a strong possibility that debris from MH370 will be found, said Malaysia’s Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein.
“We are working to find the pieces of the aircraft.
We will try our best to find them,” he said.
The search area was widened on Saturday to include a section of the Indian Ocean, a stretch of the Pacific Ocean, the South China Sea, and a region off the coast of the Australian state of New South Wales.
The NTSB said that it had found more than 200 objects, including a metal pipe and a piece of metal from the fuselage.
It said its planes were able to locate objects about 400 kilometres (250 miles) south of the proposed search area and within 10,000 kilometres (6,400 miles) of the area where the aircraft would have disappeared.
The plane disappeared without a trace from radar screens on March 7 and 239 people were on board, including two Australians.
Investigators say the plane could have been carrying 239 people.
“The search for debris and bodies is continuing,” the NTSb said.
“At this stage, there is a good chance that we will find some pieces of debris from this plane, or pieces of bodies, from the plane.”
Some pieces of wreckage will be retrieved.
“The search operation has so far cost more than $5.7 billion, with the aircraft and wreckage estimated to be worth about $4.4 billion.
