The suspected debris from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been sighted above a giant undersea chain of volcanoes, a leading Australian marine geologist has said. Crew members of the Australian Navy ship, HMAS Success, used a spotlight as they look for debris in the southern Indian Ocean.
According to smh.com.au, the cluster of suspected debris from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has been sighted above a giant undersea chain of volcanoes whose complex terrain has barely been charted. Robin Beaman, from James Cook University, said only little of the southern Indian Ocean sea floor, including the search zone, had been mapped in detail. He added that any attempt to retrieve wreckage would require extensive 3D mapping, possibly by ships with multibeam echo sounders.
However, Australia no longer has the capacity to chart depths of 3000 metres, the average depth of the search area, because the only government vessel capable of conducting mapping of that kind, the RV Southern Surveyor, had been decommissioned in December, the report said. The suspected debris picked up by an Australian aircraft on Monday was spotted about 200 kilometres to the north-east of the ridge, Dr Beaman said. According to the report, the complex terrain of the ridgeline, with peaks tens of metres tall, would make it difficult to spot any debris without good charts and remote-operated underwater vessels. (ANI)