Photos of a ‘sunken treasure chest’ taken off the coast of Australia have sparked conspiracy theories surrounding the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight 370.
It comes after the high-tech Seabed Container ‘went dark’ for three days as it searched for the downed flight last week
The mysterious chest was found resting at the bottom of the southern Indian Ocean, nearly four kilometres beneath the surface, in an area called Shipwreck #1.
Photos of a ‘sunken treasure chest’ (pictured) have sparked conspiracy theories surrounding the disappearance of MH370
Nearby is Shipwreck #2, thought to be the the SV Inca – a Peruvian transport ship that vanished on the way to Sydney more than 100 years ago.
Its discovery sparked chatter about lost treasure and Inca gold.
Both sites are within the 7th Arc – the zone aviation specialists say is most likely to be where MH370’s fuel reserves were exhausted.
Four kilometers inside the area, the century-old ship was spotted by one of the Constructor’s predecessors, the Havila Harmony, which mistook the shipwreck for the lost plane’s fuselage.
In fact, four sites were found by Fugro – a company previously contracted to search for the missing flight.
Shipwreck #3 was found further north at a depth of 3,700 metres and is thought to be a fishing vessel, intact and complete with nets.
Shipwreck #4 was described as a small wooden fishing vessel with substantial damage to the bow.
Nothing further is known about this wreck, which was also found further north in the search area.
The chest, marked with a red circle, was found four kilometres under the surface of the south Indian Ocean
Much of the ship had disintegrated but an anchor remained which was used to date the ship from 1820
Excitement spread throughout the Frugro Equator on March 7 2015 after its sonar system detected what appeared to be a debris field.
Just 12 miles east of the 7th Arc, a cluster of objects were scattered across the sea floor.
The crew thought they had found the lost flight.
But on close inspection they realised they had discovered a graveyard of sunken ships.
‘We got really excited’, Fugro CEO Paul Kennedy told a conference in Perth, Australia.
MR Kennedy said: ‘We don’t know where the ship came from.
‘The WA Maritime Museum have got no records of the boat – it may have been coming from South Africa to Australia and just got lost and everybody died on board.’
The Seabed Constuctor (pictured) hired to search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 which mysteriously disappeared for three days was reportedly ‘refuelling’ in Australia
Some have suggested that Seabed Container detoured to search the mysterious chest
The vessel was tasked with searching the zone aviation specialists say is most likely to be where MH370’s fuel reserves were exhausted, dubbed the 7th Arc
The ship’s anchor turned out to be the key to identifying the vessel. It was of a style popular around 1820, dating the ship around that time.
Aside from a bell and some bracketing, the only surviving item on the ship was a large, rectangular box.
‘What there is down there, the only thing that’s really left, is a big chest,’ Kennedy said.
‘And the whole ship was deteriorating and coming away … and there’s this big chest in about 4,000 metres of water, and our question was ‘what’s in the box?’
Don Thompson, an original member of the MH370 Independent Group (IG) which advised the government on the possible whereabouts of the missing plane, said he believed the box was likely used to store water.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) attempted to find missing aircraft MH370 for two years. A private company has renewed its pledged to locate the wreckage on a ‘no find, no fee’ basis
The plane vanished after its aircraft communications, addressing and reporting system (Acars) was switched off less than an hour after taking off
‘The Fugro report incorporated in the ATSB’s Final Operational Report even describes the box as a ‘water tank’,’ he said.
Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery and Havila Harmony have all attempted to find the presumably downed plane.
Only three confirmed fragments of MH370 have been found, all of them on western Indian Ocean shores, including a two-metre wing part known as a flaperon.
Each ship’s progress was tracked meticulously by aviation enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists.
Keeping tabs on the Constructor has proved more challenging: the vessel went dark last week, causing massive speculation.
It was in the vicinity of Shipwreck #1 and Shipwreck #2 that freelance search vessel Seabed Constructor switched off its transponder, making it impossible to track.
Unsurprisingly, its still-unexplained disappearance rekindled conspiracy theories surround the fate of the doomed line which vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8 2014 with 239 people on board.
Some speculated the vessel it had found MH370 but planned to keep its location secret until it had confirmed its government-funded fee.
Others thought Ocean Infinity had failed to find the missing Boeing 777 and had instead detoured towards the wreckage of what is believed to be the S.V Inca.
The Constructor’s docked south of Perth on Thursday after its brief disappearance and came back online Tuesday.
A multinational search cost Australian, Malaysian and Chinese taxpayers $200million. This piece of aircraft debris discovered on the island of Pemba, off the coast of Tanzania
MH370 was tracked by amateur aviation enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists alike
The Seabed Constructor’s Texas-based operator, Ocean Infinity, refused to explain the blackout at the time.
The company only said the ship will be docked for a short time before continuing the search.
It comes after a leading aviation expert predicted a disaster like MH370 will happen again soon.
David Stupples, a professor of electronic and radio systems at City, University of London, said: ‘You can’t say MH370 won’t ever happen again, because it will.’
He was referring to the fact that international requirements for new planes to broadcast their locations every minute don’t come in until 2021.
‘Until 2040 or 2050, there’s going to be a large number of aircraft flying around that don’t have that tracking system fitted,’ he said.
Currently some airlines including Malaysia Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Qantas Airways and Qatar Airways track planes every 15 minutes, which will become a requirement this November.
But still a jet travelling at 575mph that has been missing for 15 minutes requires a search zone of 170,000 square kilometers – an area the size of Florida. This makes finding any survivors very unlikely.
On 2 January, The Constructor left the Port of Durban to begin its search on a ‘no find, no fee’ deal.
It planned to use sonar scanning equipment to find the aircraft, after a failed multinational search cost Australian, Malaysian and Chinese authorities $200million.
The Malaysian Government will pay US company Ocean Infinity more than $55million if it finds the plane within 90 days.
The freelance boat’s designated search area was located just outside the 120 square kilometres previously scoured along the 7th Arc.
No sign of the plane was found and an Australian-led hunt – the largest in aviation history – was called off in January last year.