Australian firm reports traces of MH370 in Indian Ocean

After investigators decided to involve private parties in the search for the lost Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, an Australian marine exploration company today claimed that it has found the wreckage of the plane in the Bay of Bengal, 5,000 km away from the current search area.

Adelaide-based GeoResonance said it began its own search for the missing flight MH370 on 10 March, and has detected possible wreckage in the Bay of Bengal.

The GeoResonance's search covered 2,000,000 sq km of the possible crash zone, using images obtained from satellites and aircraft. The company's scientists are focusing efforts north of the plane's last known location, using over 20 technologies to analyse the data including a nuclear reactor, company spokesperson David Pope said.

He added that his company used technology originally designed to find nuclear warheads and submarines.

Malaysia's civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said Malaysia was unaware of the finding by the Australian company. "We will have to check and verify this report," he said.

Another GeoResonance spokesperson, Pavel Kursa, said several elements found in commercial airliners were detected at the Bay of Bengal spot identified by GeoResonance.

"We identified chemical elements and materials that make up a Boeing 777 ... these are aluminium, titanium, copper, steel alloys and other materials," said Kursa in a statement.

The Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight MH370-carrying 239 people, including five Indians, an Indo-Canadian and 154 Chinese nationals - had mysteriously vanished on 8 March after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.

The mystery of the missing plane continues to baffle aviation and security authorities, who have so far not succeeded in tracking the aircraft despite deploying hi-tech radar and other gadgets.