Newly-analysed data from a failed satellite telephone call to the missing MH370 indicates the aircraft may have turned south earlier than previously thought.
Speaking at a press conference following talks with his Malaysian and Chinese counterparts on 28 August, Australia’s infrastructure minister Warren Truss revealed that after the B777 disappeared from radar, ground staff from the airline tried to call the aircraft’s satellite phone.
Truss said: “Now, that was unsuccessful, but the detailed research that's being done now has been able to identify, or trace, that phone call and help to position the aircraft and the direction it was travelling.”
Truss added that the data from the telephone call “has suggested to us that the aircraft may have turned south a little earlier than we had previously expected.”
“The information we now have suggests to us that areas a little further to the south—within the search area but a little further to the south—may be of particular interest and priority in the search area,” Truss said.
Truss also added that the data still points towards the aircraft being located along the ‘seventh arc’, which is being mapped by survey vessels and will be the starting point for the renewed underwater search.
In the same press conference, Malaysia’s transport minister Liow Tiong Lai confirmed that it will share the costs of the underwater search with Australia. Truss has estimated the cost at AUD52 million, based on the 60,000km2 area that the Australian government has nominated as the search area.
It is expected that the search of the area will take up to 12 months to complete.
New MH370 satphone data indicates earlier course change
