Sonar analysis experts from US geophysical consulting firm Williamson & Associates reportedly jumped out of their seats after recently seeing new images online of an area in the Indian Ocean showing objects that closely resemble an aircraft debris field.
As a result, they have urged the search team of the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 to check the specific area in the Indian Ocean where the image was taken, reports The Week of UK.
However, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB), which is leading the hunt for the missing plane, ruled out the observation of the geophysical firm by saying that those are just edges of rocks exposed above the seabed and associated scattered rock.
But Rob McCallum, manager of special projects at Williamson & Associates, said that the formation on the images do not appear to be geology that it should be worth another look by the search team.
Look again for the sake of victims’ families
McCallum said that the team should consider doing it if only for the sake of the families of the victims of the ill-fated Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.
The analysts in the geophysical firm noted that the edges of the pictures are blurry which means that sonar equipment was being pushed to the limits and the search team might be missing something.
However, ATSB feels that the firm is just sour-graping of sort as it lost out on a tender position with the government body for the search for Flight MH370, despite putting its credentials on the table saying that it specializes in sonar equipment.
In fact, the firm was able to find an Australian warship in 2008, some 60 years after it sank at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.
For its part, the ATSB said that its own specialists are quite sure that the images did not show any aircraft debris. A spokesman of the board said that what some of the analysts of Williamson & Associates did was unprofessional because they drew conclusions based on the limited information provided by the images in the search update report.
The spokesman added that there are no indications that there is anything possessing the characteristics of an aircraft debris field and therefore a visual imaging run at very low altitude was necessary.
Malaysian Airlines supports ATSB
Officials of Malaysian Airlines are also supporting the position of ATSB on the recent suggestion of the US physical geophysical firm.
They believe that the ATSB did not mistake rocks for aircraft debris of the missing passenger plane and they are still consistent with the position that the Indian Ocean seabed is not the final resting spot for the missing jet, notes the Express of UK.
ATSB has undertaken an underwater search previously on the Indian Ocean which is regarded as the most expensive ever in aviation history, but it has turned up nothing at all.
Thus far, the only physical evidence of the Boeing 777 was found late in July, with a plane part called a flaperon, identified to be belonging to the Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 after drifting ashore on the island of Reunion, southwest of the Maldives in Africa.
Early this month, 46-year-old Jamil Omar of Borneo reported to Malaysian authorities that his nephew allegedly discovered a fuselage of an airplane filled with skeletons in the island of Sugbay, in the southern Philippines.
He said that he did not realize what it was as he has no access to television or the newspapers. Just the same, Malaysian authorities in Sabah in coordination with the Philippine military, decided to check and investigate the claims just to ensure that it covers all bases.
According to Omar, his nephew found a skeleton still in the pilot’s seat and was still wearing his safety belt. The communication gear is also attached to his head and ears.
He later on added that his nephew was with some of his friends during the discovery and they found many skeletons in the fuselage, some still wearing seatbelts, and many more human bones lying around.
Omar also said that his nephew cut a piece of fabric to use as a blanket but he discovered it later as a Malaysian flag.