Australian authorities have called off Tuesday’s search for wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet due to hazardous weather conditions in the southern Indian Ocean.
Two-metre waves and swells of up to four metres are forecast in the searching zone south-west of Perth on Tuesday, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
The area is also forecast to experience winds of up to 80km/h, periods of heavy rain, and low cloud with a ceiling of between 60 and 150 metres.
As a result, the search for Flight MH370 has been temporarily suspended until the seas abate and weather conditions improve.
AMSA said a Royal Australian Navy warship that had been sent to the area on Monday night to try to recover debris spotted by an Australian aircraft earlier in the day had left the area.
"Due to rough seas, HMAS Success departed the search area early this morning and is now in transit south of the search area until seas abate," AMSA said in a statement.
The devastating announcement overnight that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing all 239 people on board, was the culmination of a dramatic day of searching off the south-west coast of Australia.
At about 9am on Monday two Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft took off from Perth's RAAF Pearce base, in the first Chinese air search operation since two of its military aircraft arrived in Perth on Saturday.
The planes were bound for the search zone in the southern Indian Ocean, about 2500 kilometres south-west of Perth, and would have arrived in the area at about 1pm. The planes have the capacity to search for about two hours before heading back to base.
One of the planes had completed its search mission and was returning to Perth when the crew reported spotting "suspicious objects" floating in the water. These included items that were "white and rectangular" and were scattered over an area of a "few kilometres", according to official news agency Xinhua.
Later on Monday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said a US Navy P-8 Poseidon, the most advanced search aircraft in the world, was sent to the coordinates and was unable to find the objects.
25/03/14 Sydney Morining Herala
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Two-metre waves and swells of up to four metres are forecast in the searching zone south-west of Perth on Tuesday, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
The area is also forecast to experience winds of up to 80km/h, periods of heavy rain, and low cloud with a ceiling of between 60 and 150 metres.
As a result, the search for Flight MH370 has been temporarily suspended until the seas abate and weather conditions improve.
AMSA said a Royal Australian Navy warship that had been sent to the area on Monday night to try to recover debris spotted by an Australian aircraft earlier in the day had left the area.
"Due to rough seas, HMAS Success departed the search area early this morning and is now in transit south of the search area until seas abate," AMSA said in a statement.
The devastating announcement overnight that Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had crashed into the Indian Ocean, killing all 239 people on board, was the culmination of a dramatic day of searching off the south-west coast of Australia.
At about 9am on Monday two Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft took off from Perth's RAAF Pearce base, in the first Chinese air search operation since two of its military aircraft arrived in Perth on Saturday.
The planes were bound for the search zone in the southern Indian Ocean, about 2500 kilometres south-west of Perth, and would have arrived in the area at about 1pm. The planes have the capacity to search for about two hours before heading back to base.
One of the planes had completed its search mission and was returning to Perth when the crew reported spotting "suspicious objects" floating in the water. These included items that were "white and rectangular" and were scattered over an area of a "few kilometres", according to official news agency Xinhua.
Later on Monday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said a US Navy P-8 Poseidon, the most advanced search aircraft in the world, was sent to the coordinates and was unable to find the objects.
25/03/14 Sydney Morining Herala
