China's State
Administration for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense
announced the discovery, including images of what it said were "three
suspected floating objects."
The objects aren't small:
13 by 18 meters (43 by 59 feet), 14 by 19 meters (46 by 62 feet) and 24
by 22 meters (79 feet by 72 feet). For reference, the wingspan of an
intact Boeing 777-200ER like the one that disappeared is about 61 meters (200 feet) and its overall length is about 64 meters (210 feet).
The images were captured
around 11 a.m. on March 9 -- which was the day after the plane went
missing -- but weren't released until Wednesday.
The Chinese agency gave
coordinates of 105.63 east longitude, 6.7 north latitude, which would
put it in waters northeast of where it took off in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, and south of Vietnam, near where the South China Sea meets the
Gulf of Thailand.
"It's where it's supposed
to be," Peter Goelz, a former National Transportation Safety Board
managing director, told CNN's Jake Tapper, noting the "great skepticism"
about reports the plane had turned around to go back over Malaysia. "I
think they've got to get vessels and aircraft there as quickly as
humanly possible."
This isn't the first time
authorities have announced the discovery of objects or oil slicks that
might be tied to aircraft. Still, it is the latest and comes on the same
day that officials, rather than narrowing the search area, more than
doubled it from the day earlier to nearly 27,000 square nautical miles
(35,000 square miles).
The vastness of the area
and the limited details that authorities have given makes it hard to
tell whether the spot that the satellite imagery captured has been
searched. A Malaysian air force official, who is not authorized to speak
to the media, did say Thursday morning that its aircraft were heading
to that area.
Bill Palmer -- author of a
book on Air France's Flight 447, which also mysteriously went missing
before its remnants were found -- said having a search area of that size
is immensely challenging. He compared it to trying to find something
the size of a car or truck in Pennsylvania, then widening it to look for
the same thing in all of North America.
"It's a very, very
difficult situation to try to find anything," Palmer told CNN's Brooke
Baldwin. "Looking for pieces on the shimmering water doesn't make it any
easier."
The Chinese satellite find could help, significantly, in that regard.
"I think the size of the
pieces ... everything we've heard... gives good cause to believe that
we've now (refocused) the area," former Federal Aviation Administration
official Michael Goldfarb told CNN. "And that's a huge relief to
everybody ... I think it's a high chance that they're going to confirm
that these (are) pieces of the wreckage."
But not every expert was
convinced this is it. Clive Irving, a senior editor with Conde Nast
Traveler, said that the size of the pieces -- since they are fairly
square and large -- "don't conform to anything that's on the plane."
Tom Haueter, a former
NTSB aviation safety director, said he'd be "surprised" if the objects
came from the plane, rationalizing that anything that big wouldn't
float.
Regardless, time is of
the essence -- both for investigators and the loved ones of the plane's
239 passengers and crew, who have waited since Saturday for any
breakthrough that would provide closure.
The flight data
recorders should "ping," or send out a signal pointing to its location,
for about 30 days from the time the aircraft set off, noted Goldfarb.
After that, Flight 370 could prove exponentially harder to find.
"It's the only clue that
we've had so far," CNN aviation expert Richard Quest said of the
satellite imagery clues. "If this doesn't prove to be the wreckage of
370, then we're back to square one."
Vietnamese minister: Info being provided 'insufficient'
The Malaysia Airlines flight set off seemingly without incident early Saturday, not long after midnight, en route to Beijing.
Then, around 1:30 a.m.,
all communication cut off over a location south and east of where the
Chinese satellite images were shot.
Azharuddin Abdul Rahman,
the head of Malaysia's civil aviation department, said around 6 a.m.
Thursday in Kuala Lumpur -- hours after China's announcement -- that his
agency had not seen the images.
This assertion comes amid frustration about the investigation, search and communication surrounding both.
Relatives of those
aboard the plane have expressed outrage, with video showing some of them
angrily throwing water bottles at airline officials. And on Tuesday, a
middle-aged man -- who said his son was on that plane -- shouted, "Time
is passing by," before bursting into tears.
Some involved in the multinational search operation have also vented about the ordeal.
Most of those on the
flight were Chinese, and the Chinese government has urged Malaysia to
speed up the pace of its investigation.
And Phan Quy Tieu,
Vietnam's vice minister of transportation, has characterized the
information that Malaysian officials have provided as "insufficient."
"Up until now we only had one meeting with a Malaysian military attache," he said.
For now, Vietnamese
teams will stop searching the sea south of Ca Mau province, the southern
tip of Vietnam, and shift the focus to areas east of Ca Mau, said Doan
Luu, the director of international affairs at the Vietnamese Civil
Aviation Authority.
Malaysia's
transportation and defense minister Hishamuddin Bin Hussein defended his
government's approach. "We have been very consistent in the search," he
said.
Confusion about plane's route
Over the weekend,
authorities suddenly expanded their search to the other side of the
Malay Peninsula, in the Strait of Malacca, where search efforts now seem
to be concentrated.
That location is hundreds of miles off the plane's expected flight path.
An explanation appeared
to come Tuesday when a senior Malaysian Air Force official told CNN that
the Air Force had tracked the plane to a spot near the small island of
Palau Perak off Malaysia's west coast in the Strait of Malacca.
The plane's identifying
transponder had stopped sending signals, too, said the official, who
declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the
media.
Malaysia's civilian administration appeared to dispute the report, however.
The New York Times
quoted a spokesman for the Malaysian prime minister's office as saying
Tuesday that military officials had told him there was no evidence the
plane had flown back over the Malay Peninsula.
The Prime Minister's office didn't immediately return calls from CNN seeking comment.
In another shift,
Malaysian authorities said at a news conference Wednesday that radar
records reviewed in the wake of the plane's disappearance reveal an
unidentified aircraft traveling across the Malay Peninsula and some 200 miles into the Strait of Malacca.
However, it wasn't clear
whether that radar signal represented Malaysia Airlines Flight 370,
Gen. Rodzali Daud, head of the Malaysian Air Force, said at the news
conference.
Rodzali said then that officials are still "examining and analyzing all possibilities" when it comes to the plane's flight path.
As Rob Mark, a
commercial pilot and publisher of JetWhine.com, told CNN's Erin Burnett:
"There's so much confusing information flying around about this right
now."
Nothing has been ruled
out as to what caused the plane's communication systems -- including its
crucial transponder -- to suddenly stop working.
Terrorism, hijacking,
pilot error and a mechanical malfunction all remain just as valid as
possibilities now as when the plane went missing.
Amid all the confusion and complaints, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Wednesday appealed for patience.
"The families involved
have to understand that this is something unexpected," Najib said. "The
families must understand more efforts have been made with all our
capabilities."
Danica Weeks is trying
to keep it together for her two young sons, though the possibility of
life without husband Paul is sometimes overwhelming. She's clinging to
hope even though, as Weeks told CNN's Piers Morgan, it's "not looking
good."
"Every day it just seems
like it's an eternity, it's an absolute eternity," Weeks said from
Australia. "We can only go minute-by-minute ... and hope something comes
soon."
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