Authorities searching for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 have rejected claims from an Adelaide technology company that it has found a wreckage in the Bay of Bengal that may be the missing aircraft.
GeoResonance claims its sensor technology has found a plane in the Bay of Bengal, south of Bangladesh, and in an area at the northern part of the original search for the commercial plane.
Although the marine exploration company – which specialises in geophysical surveys to find oil, gas, groundwater and uranium – has not declared the discovery is MH370, it says the possibility should be investigated.
But Australia‘s Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre, which is leading the search, said the location of MH370 suggested by the GeoResonance report was not in the Australian search and rescue zone.
“The Australian-led search is relying on information from satellite and other data to determine the missing aircraft’s location,” JACC said.
“The location specified by the GeoResonance report is not within the search arc derived from this data.”
JACC said it was satisfied that the Boeing 777 was in the southern part of the search arc.
Authorities have called off the aerial search but are continuing with their transition to an intensified undersea search in the southern Indian Ocean.
Bluefin-21, which has completed its search of the 314 sq km area around the detections made by the towed pinger locator, will continue to search adjacent areas in the hopes of finding the wreckage.
Mission 17 will begin when weather conditions improve to allow Bluefin-21 to be safely launched from the Australian vessel Ocean Shield.
The ill-fated flight was carrying 239 people from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished on March 8.