Planes and ships are scrambling to find a pallet and other debris in the southern Indian Ocean to determine whether they are from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.
The pallet was spotted by a search plane on Saturday, but has not been closely examined. Wooden pallets are commonly used in shipping, but can also be used on planes.
Mike Barton, chief of Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s rescue coordination centre, told reporters in Canberra on Sunday that the wooden pallet spotted by a civilian search aircraft was surrounded by several other nondescript objects, including what appeared to be strapping belts of different colours and lengths.
It is not immediately known if any pallets were used on flight MH370 that disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board.
A New Zealand Orion P3 plane tried to find it, but failed, Mr. Barton said.
“We went to some of the expert airlines and the use of wooden pallets is quite common in the industry,” Mr. Barton said.
“They’re usually packed into another container, which is loaded in the belly of the aircraft. ... It’s a possible lead, but we will need to be very certain that this is a pallet because pallets are used in the shipping industry as well,” he said. NEWS FROM THE HINDU
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