Search teams shifted to a different part of the southern Indian Ocean after Australian authorities said they received "a new credible lead" about the jetliner's most likely last movements.
An analysis of radar data led investigators to move the search to an area 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) to the northeast of where efforts had been focused previously, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said Friday.
It called the new information "the most credible lead to where debris may be located."
That means the huge,
isolated areas of the ocean that ships and planes combed for the past
week, and where various satellites detected objects that might be debris
from the missing plane, are no longer a priority.
"We have moved on from
those search areas," said John Young, general manager of emergency
response for the Australian maritime authority.
'We have not seen any debris'
He also played down the significance of various possible objects detected by satellites in that region.
"In regards to the old
areas, we have not seen any debris," Young said at a news briefing in
Canberra, the Australian capital. "And I would not wish to classify any
of the satellite imagery as debris, nor would I want to classify any of
the few visual sightings that we made as debris. That's just not
justifiable from what we have seen."
He disputed the
suggestion that the search in the previous areas had been a waste of
time, saying it was based on the information authorities "had at the
time."
"That's nothing unusual
for search and rescue operations," he said "And this actually happens to
us all the time -- that new information may arise out of sequence with
the search itself."
The latest data, based
on an analysis of radar on the night Flight 370 disappeared, suggest the
aircraft was traveling faster than previously estimated before it
dropped off radar, Australian authorities said.
That means the plane is
thought to have burned more fuel than previously calculated, shortening
the possible distance it flew south into the Indian Ocean.
Less remote, better weather
The new search area is
closer to the Australian continent, allowing planes to spend longer
flying over it as they hunt for traces of the missing passenger jet,
which disappeared March 8 over Southeast Asia with 239 people on board.
"We will certainly get better time on scene," Young said.
The new zone is also
farther north, moving search teams away from latitudes known for
difficult weather conditions. Search efforts in the old areas were
disrupted twice this week by bad weather.
Conditions in the more northerly zone are "likely to be better more often than we've seen in the past," Young said.
They may also be better
for taking satellite images, he said. The Australian
Geospatial-Intelligence Organisation has directed satellites to capture
images of the new zone.
But the area is question
remains vast -- roughly 319,000 square kilometers (123,000 square
miles) -- and remote -- about 1,850 kilometers (1,150 miles) west of
Perth, the western Australian city that's the hub for search operations.
Ten search aircraft will
fly over the area over the course of Friday. Six ships involved in the
search -- one Australian and five Chinese -- are headed there, too.
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