Search for Missing Malaysia Plane Finds Shipwreck - by Kristen Gelineau, Associated Press/ World/ usnews.com
"Search for missing Malaysia plane yields old uncharted shipwreck in remote Indian Ocean.
SYDNEY (AP) — Search crews hunting for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the desolate ocean waters off western Australia have discovered an old shipwreck, officials said Wednesday.
The unexpected finding came when sonar equipment on board a search vessel scouring the Indian Ocean for the missing jetliner detected a cluster of objects nearly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) below the surface, according to a statement from the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is heading up the hunt.
Although officials suspected the objects were probably not from the Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8, 2014, they decided to take a closer look just in case. A second ship sent down an autonomous underwater vehicle — essentially, an unmanned sub — which revealed a large number of small objects and several larger items, the biggest 6 meters (20 feet) long.
The debris field appeared to be man-made but wasn't typical of an aircraft. Still, crews sent down a camera to be sure.
Analysis of the photos revealed this week that the debris came from a previously uncharted shipwreck. Marine archaeologists are now examining the photos, which include an image of an anchor and what appear to be lumps of coal, to see whether they can identify the ship. It was not immediately clear when the sonar first spotted the wreckage..."
In this photo provided on Wednesday by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, debris from a shipwreck lays on the Indian Ocean floor, nearly 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) below the surface, off the west coast of Australia. Search crews hunting for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in the desolate waters off western Australia have discovered the wreck was of a cargo ship built in the mid-to-late 19th century.
Richard
