Object under probe for missing jet link

PERTH

Authorities are investigating whether “unidentified material” washed up on the southwest coast of Australia has any link to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, officials said Wednesday.

“Western Australia Police have attended a report of material washed ashore 10 kilometres (six miles) east of Augusta and have secured the material,” Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre said in a statement.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) is examining photographs of the material to determine whether it has any links to the search for the missing jet, it added.

The bureau has provided photographs of the material to the Malaysian investigation team.

“It’s sufficiently interesting for us to take a look at the photographs,” ATSB Chief Commissioner Martin Dolan told broadcaster CNN, describing the object as appearing to be sheet metal with rivets.

But he added a note of caution. “The more we look at it, the less excited we get.”

Meanwhile, Australia said Wednesday cost was not a concern in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, after the mini-sub plumbing the depths of the Indian Ocean for wreckage ended its ninth mission empty-handed.

Australia is leading the multinational search for the Boeing 777 which vanished on March 8 carrying 239 people, and is bearing many of the costs of the mission expected to be the most expensive in aviation history.

“There will be some issues of costs into the future but this is not about costs,” Defence Minister David Johnston told reporters in Canberra.

“We want to find this aircraft. We want to say to our friends in Malaysia and China this is not about cost, we are concerned to be seen to be helping them in a most tragic circumstance.”

China, whose citizens made up two-thirds of the passengers on board the ill-fated flight, and Malaysia are among eight countries including Australia which have committed assets to the Indian Ocean search.