It's been days since a satellite captured images of two large, whitish objects floating in the Indian Ocean that authorities believe could have been wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
But Australian officials say one of the several surveillance planes scouring the treacherous waters southwest of the country returned to base Friday without finding anything significant. (Via CNN)
Less-than-ideal weather has been making the search difficult. Winter is on the way in the south Indian Ocean, and cloudy skies and rough waters are limiting visibility significantly. (Via AlJazeera)
Australian officials told reporters Friday that the search is "going to be a long haul."
"It's about the most inaccessible spot you can imagine on the face of the earth but if there is anything down there, we will find it." (Via CBS)
But search and rescue teams from all over the world haven't given up yet on what's being called the "best lead" they've had since the Boeing 777 vanished on its way to Beijing two weeks ago.
More than a dozen ships and planes from different nations have been sent to the area, which is about 1,000 miles off the coast of Australia. (Via ABC)
But despite all that man power, experts say finding those two possible pieces of the missing plane will be tough — and finding the rest of it may be even harder.
A former National Transportation Safety Board lead crash investigator told The Washington Post, "If they are plane parts, they are probably several hundred miles away by now from the impact site. Trying to trace back the currents to a specific location after all this time is going to be very, very difficult."
Though investigators are doing everything they can to recover the suspected wreckage, officials are also emphasizing the possibility that the objects could be completely unrelated to MH370. Surveillance planes are expected to continue their efforts to locate the pieces Saturday.
