KUALA LAMPUR-
Two weeks after a Malaysian airliner carrying 239 people vanished, international teams stepped up their search deep in the southern Indian Ocean on Saturday, as a Malaysian minister expressed fear a possible sighting of debris may be a false lead.
Searches by more than two dozen countries have turned up little but frustration and fresh questions about Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which disappeared on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.
Six aircraft and two merchant ships were scouring an area of the remote southern Indian Ocean where suspected debris was spotted by satellite six days ago.
Australia, which announced the potential find and is coordinating the rescue, has cautioned the objects might be a lost shipping container or other debris and may have since sunk.
“Even though this is not a definite lead, it is probably more solid than any other lead around the world and that is why so much effort and interest is being put into this search,” Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss told reporters.
China, Japan and India were sending more planes and Australian and Chinese navy vessels were also steaming towards the zone, more than 2,000 km (1,200 miles) southwest of Perth.
Weather conditions were good, with 10 km (6 miles) of visibility, according to officials – a crucial boost for a search that is relying more on human eyes than the technical wizardry of the most advanced aircraft in the world.
Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokesman John Young said the operation was still considered search and rescue.
“The plan is we want to find these objects because they are the best lead to where we might find people to be rescued,” he said.
