Plane debris found in Bay of Bengal: Australian firm

An Australian private company says it has found plane debris in the Bay of Bengal that “should be investigated” as possible debris from missing Malaysian flight MH370.

“The company is not declaring this is MH370, however it should be investigated,” said Adelaide-based geophysical survey company GeoResonance on Tuesday.

“We identified chemical elements and materials that make up a Boeing 777… these are aluminum, titanium, copper, steel alloys, and other materials,” company representative Pavel Kursa said.

David Pope, another company representative, said there were no indications of the aircraft in images from the same area captured on March 5.

“Our team was very excited when we found what we believe to be the wreckage of a commercial airliner,” Pope said, adding, “We’re not trying to say that it definitely is MH370, however it is a lead we feel should be followed up.”

However, the Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC), which is in charge of a multinational search for the missing plane, ruled out the possibility, saying that it believed the plane fell into southern Indian Ocean off Australia, where the search is underway for a sign of the plane.

“The location specified by the GeoResonance report is not within the search arc derived from this data. The joint international team is satisfied that the final resting place of the missing aircraft is in the southerly portion of the search arc.”

The Bay of Bengal is situated between India and Myanmar thousands of kilometers away from the current search spot.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, vanished from radar screens early on March 8, less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on a scheduled flight to Beijing.

There is growing frustration among the family members of the missing passengers as search operations drag on.