Flight MH370 Found? Indonesia Alerted of Floating Debris Possibly of Missing Plane

A new operational search update issued by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) suggests that floating debris, probably belonging to flight MH370, was found along the Australian coastline.

Examiner reported that the debris was "found by members of the public after it washed ashore and is being analyzed."

The debris, believed to be of the MH370 plane which went missing in March, could have "drifted west away from the coastline of Australia and towards Indonesia," said The Sydney Morning Herald.

Both reports hinge on a search update from the ATSB which says:

"The ATSB continues to receive messages from members of the public who have found material washed up on the Australian coastline and think it may be wreckage or debris from MH370.

"The ATSB reviews all of this correspondence carefully, but drift modelling undertaken by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority has suggested that if there were any floating debris, it is far more likely to have travelled west, away from the coastline of Australia.

"It is possible that some materials may have drifted to the coastline of Indonesia, and an alert has been issued in that country, requesting that the authorities be alerted to any possible debris from the aircraft."

Additionally, the ATSB released a flight path analysis update of the still missing Boeing 777 plane, said Examiner. The team is reportedly "reviewing the last communication with the Malaysian Airlines plane."

The said updates come 7 months into the search, noted International Business Times. The search, however, "has so far yielded no concrete clues as to the whereabouts of the aircraft," added the outlet.

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's Defense Minister, said that he is counting on sonar technology for answers.

"Based on the technology available and that we are looking at the right place, we are that much optimistic. The technical committee will also continue to zoom into the areas of search. Malaysia remains committed to finding the plane and we will find it," New Straits Times quoted Hussein.

It also remains unclear whether the plane, which had 239 passengers and crew members on board, was hijacked or if it went down due to mechanical problems.

In an earlier report by Spiegel, Emirates Airline Head Tim Clark opined: "MH 370 was, in my opinion, under control, probably until the very end."

He added:

"Our experience tells us that in water incidents, where the aircraft has gone down, there is always something. We have not seen a single thing that suggests categorically that this aircraft is where they say it is, apart from this so-called electronic satellite 'handshake,' which I question as well.

"There hasn't been one overwater incident in the history of civil aviation -- apart from Amelia Earhart in 1939 -- that has not been at least 5 or 10 percent trackable. But MH 370 has simply disappeared. For me, that raises a degree of suspicion. I'm totally dissatisfied with what has been coming out of all of this."