Floating object found near reported MH370 crash site

March 09, 2014 | 19:31

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Vietnam has just ordered a helicopter and a coast guard ship to rush to the area near the reported crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 where a Singapore search plane had detected an unidentified floating object on Sunday afternoon.

The red circle shows the location of an unidentified floating object near Malaysia Airlines flight MH370’s purported crash site.

Singapore authorities told Vietnamese rescuers at 2:40 pm that their search airplane had found a suspicious object floating 100km south-southwest of Vietnam’s Tho Chu Island, according to Tuoi Trenewspaper which has had reporters accompany the rescuers.

The Malaysia Airlines plane MH370 has been reported to crash 53 nautical miles (275km) off the island, which is located 85 nautical miles (153km) off Ca Mau – Vietnam’s southernmost province.

A Vietnamese Mi 171 helicopter has been deployed to the area to identify the object, Tuoi Tre said.

Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, a Vietnamese military official who is following Vietnam’s search for the plane from a national rescue committee, has directed the CSB 2003 coast guard ship to speed up toward the object’s whereabouts.

CSB 2003 is expected to approach the location at 5:30 pm Vietnam time Sunday (1030 am GMT Sunday).

Tuan also suggested sending a seaplane from the Cam Ranh base in the central province of Khanh Hoa and an aircraft from Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City to the site of the floating object.

Vietnam and other Asian countries have mobilized many ships, choppers, and aircraft to conduct a search and rescue mission in an attempt to find the Malaysia Airlines jetliner that has gone missing since early Saturday.

The plane was carrying 239 people, including 227 passengers and 12 crew members.

Neither plane wreckage nor casualties have been reported so far.

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