MH370 search crews find shipwreck in the Indian Ocean off the western coast of Australia
The previously uncharted shipwreck was discovered after sonar equipment detected a cluster of objects 2.5 miles below the surface of the water
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has discovered a previously uncharted shipwreck in the Indian Ocean off western Australia, officials have said.
The discovery occurred after a cluster of objects almost 2.5 miles below the surface of the water was detected by sonar equipment on one of the vessels searching for the missing jetliner, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has said.
Work is now underway to identify the ship, which is believed to have been built in the 19th century.
“It's a fascinating find, but it's not what we're looking for,” Peter Foley, ATSB's director of the operational search, said.
“We're not pausing in the search for MH370, in fact the vessels have already moved on to continue the mission.”
Following the discovery of the debris, authorities decided to take a closer look despite suspicions it did not belong to the Boeing 777, which has been missing since 8 March 2014.
An unmanned submarine was sent down to investigate the wreckage, which revealed a large number of small objects and several larger items.
Photographs of the debris have now been analysed, with experts concluding it belongs to a previously uncharted shipwreck.
The wreck is believed to belong to a cargo ship built in the mid-to-late 19th century, according to Michael McCarthy, a senior maritime archaeologist at the West Austrlian Maritime Museum.
Mr McCarthy has said it could be one of hundreds lost on voyages across the Indian Ocean.
He said: “We've got quite a lot of stories about ships that sank in the Indian Ocean mid-voyage and you would be struggling to tell which is which unless you had a complete catalogue of all the ones lost.”
Mr McCarthy said experts had predicted crews searching for MH370 would find the wreckage of other ships, but added it would be a difficult task to identify this ship.
He said those identifying the ship would need to get a closer look and know which ports it was travelling between.
He said: “Being a fairly common type of cargo ship from the 19th century with no obvious cargo remains there, I doubt that anyone would pay the enormous cost of going down to look at it.”
Officials last month announced the search area for MH370 was to be expanded in the Indian Ocean by a further 60,000 square kilometers if the plane was not found by the end of May.
Crews have now covered 75 per cent of the original search area, it has been reported.
Additional reporting by AP
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments