Aviation experts have demanded a new investigation into images showing debris floating in the Indian Ocean soon after missing flight MH370 vanished.
Leader of the MH370 Independent Group, US engineer Victor Iannello, said the pictures appear to show debris, including a suitcase and a cargo package, that could have come from the missing Malaysia Airlines flight.
Dr Iannello told The Australian the images taken by the Royal New Zealand Air Force were initially overlooked but need to be given more attention as US company Ocean Infinity reignites the search for the plane next year.
Scientists and aviation experts are urging for images of the Indian Ocean taken soon after flight MH370 disappeared to be re-evaluated (pictured is a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777)
Leader of the MH370 Independent Group, US engineer Victor Iannello, said the pictures appear to show debris, including a suitcase (pictured) and a cargo package, that could have come from the missing Malaysian Airline flight
Dr Iannello told The Australian the images taken by the Royal New Zealand Air Force were initially overlooked but need to be given more attention as US company Ocean Infinity reignites the search for the plane next year
The Boeing 777 vanished with 239 people aboard while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.
The plane carried mostly Malaysian and Chinese passengers, but passengers from 14 different countries were also on board.
The plane’s remains have never been found.
Ocean Infinity has proposed a 25,000 square kilometre search area as part of the ‘no-find, no-fee’ agreement with Malaysia.
Deputy Transport Minister Datuk Ab Aziz Kaprawi told ABC Ocean Infinity would be paid up to AUS$91 million if MH370 aircraft wreckage is found within 90 days.
French gendarmes and police inspect a large piece of plane debris which was found on the beach in Saint-Andre, on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion in July 2015
But Dr Iannello said the designated search area should be shifted to the north where the Royal New Zealand Air Force took the photographs 21 days after MH370 vanished.
‘Many believe that … it is possible that debris was missed during the surface search,’ he told The Australian.
‘As far as we know, none of the objects identified in the surface search on March 29, 2014, were recovered by ship, so the relationship to MH370 remains unknown.’
‘As only 21 days elapsed between the impact of MH370 and the discovery of the debris, it should be possible to backtrack the objects to March 8 to determine a potential point of impact.’
A piece of debris believed to be an outboard wing flap belonging to missing flight MH370