JACC confirms sonar images not related to MH370 debris despite allegation of U.S. firm

Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC) for the search of MH370 confirmed with Xinhua Wednesday that the images of sonar contacts in the underwater search off the coast of Western Australia have been assessed and its experts believe that the search area is not aircraft debris field.

Australian media reported Wednesday that U.S. deep water search company Williamson and Associates has said the team hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 may have missed its wreckage 4 kilometers below on the sea floor.

Having examined images collected by scanning equipment aboard the search ship Fugro Discovery in September and released by JACC on Oct. 1, the company believes items spotted and dismissed as rocks are likely to be man-made metal parts with circular surfaces.

Williamson and Associates says the company finds "similarities", albeit at a great distance, between what it believes is a "debris field" off Western Australia and the wreckage of Air France Flight 447 that crashed in the South Atlantic.

In response to Xinhua's enquiry on the report, JACC said in an email that the images of the two sonar contacts included in the Operational Search Update released on Oct. 1 were "a very small sample of extensive data collected on several passes made at lower altitude, varying range scales and sonar frequencies with the deep tow system on board Fugro Discovery, one of the search vessels."

"The data was assessed, holistically, by expert geophysicists and sonar data specialists on board the vessel, in the Fugro sonar data analysis team and independently by the ATSB (Australian Trasnport Safety Bureau)'s sonar data quality assurance team," JACC said.

"Their assessment was made in the context of the adjacent geology and the broader geology found in the search area. It also took account of the known characteristics of comparable aircraft debris fields."

"All of the experts are satisfied that the structures in the sonar records are consistent with the surrounding geological formations and with the geology found in the search area. Based on analysis of all of the data, there are no indications that there is anything possessing the characteristics of an aircraft debris field."

"Other Category 2 contacts have been identified in the course of the underwater search. While they are not considered to be an immediate priority, some will be examined more closely using either the Hugin 4500 AUV or the deep tow search systems as opportunities arise."

Category 2 sonar contacts are of more interest but are still unlikely to be significant to the search.

The flight, a Boeing 777-200, disappeared on March 8, 2014, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with a total of 239 passengers on board, most of them Chinese.

The Malaysian government confirmed in August that an aircraft flapron found on the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion belonged to the missing flight.

Williamson and Associates is a geophysical consulting firm providing surveys and engineering services. It played a big role in the successful search for the cruiser HMAS Sydney, which was lost off Western Australia in a battle with a German raider in World War II. Enditem