In what is seen as an admission that MH370 will never be found, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said today that the surface search was being scaled back because it is ‘highly unlikely’ clues will be found on the surface of the Indian Ocean
Instead, the search will enter a new phase with the focus on the ocean floor – despite there being no ‘pings’ from what was earlier hoped were the aircraft’s black boxes.
Mr Abbott said that as the aircraft, which had 239 people on board, has been missing for 52 days, if there had been any debris from the aircraft it would have now sunk.
‘By this stage, 52 days into the search, most material would have become waterlogged and sunk’ said Mr Abbott.
He paid tribute to the ‘tremendous work’ of air crews from eight nations who have contributed to the search.
His words were seen as virtually admitting that the search had little prospect of finding the aircraft, particularly as a concentrated hunt by the undersea search vehicle Bluefin-21 in a ‘likely area’ had found nothing.
h/t Daily Mail
