MH370 Search Team Finds Shipwreck; Pilot Sabotage Theory Resurfaces
Looking for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370, search teams think they may have come across what is being believed to be a 19th Century shipwreck.Advertisement
The object, found two miles under the waves, was detected by underwater sonar equipment. An unmanned submarine was sent below the water to capture a picture. According to the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, the experts at the Western Australian Museum, when shown the picture, said it was probably a 19th Century ship made from steel or iron.
“An anomalous sonar contact was identified in the course of the underwater search, with analysis suggesting the object was likely to be man-made, probably a shipwreck,” the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said. The center is directing the search for the missing MH370.
Previously, the search led to the discovery of one shipwreck found miles below the waves, BBC reports. Man-made debris was discovered scattered on the ocean sink, including an old anchor. Underwater volcanoes have also been discovered in the search for the missing plane.
Two-thirds of the search zone, comprising of a 120,000 sq kilometer area, has been covered by the search teams. U.S. Geological Survey notes that this is nearly as big as South Carolina. “In the absence of credible new information that leads to the identification of a specific location of the aircraft,” the agency said, “governments have agreed that there will be no further expansion of the search area.”
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 took off on March 8, 2014, from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, and was flying to Beijing. The aircraft had 239 passengers and crew on board.
According to CNN, debris believed to be from the missing aircraft washed up in July on France’s Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. The debris was thought to have come from the aircraft as a series of numbers on the plane matched the records from a set of documents in possession of a Spanish company that manufactured parts of the component.
Meanwhile, a former U.S. pilot and safety expert said that the pilot of MH370 plane may have taken control of the plane, programming it to direct towards Penang to avoid attention, according to a report published in the Daily Mail. The Australian Transport Bureau said that it does not dismiss the possibility of any “action by the captain or his co-pilot, whether a deliberate action to sabotage the aircraft or a desperate, failed attempt to temporarily cut the power to resolve a technical problem.” Another explanation, according to an exclusive story published in the Daily Beast, given in the report is that the plane’s electrical systems shut down, which rendered the pilots powerless.