In a statement released Thursday, the ATSB said at the time Flight 370 reached this specific arc, “the aircraft is considered to have exhausted its fuel and to have been descending.”
It was not immediately clear where the 7th arc, shown below on a map provided by the ATSB, lays in relation to the area already searched already by a U.S. Navy robotic submarine. The Bluefin 21 sub concluded its fruitless search of a swath of the Indian Ocean floor that investigators had believed was the most likely crash zone at the end of May.
Australian officials then said they hoped to begin a much wider search, scanning some 21,600 square miles with more advanced sonar equipment, in August…
The search for the missing jet has entered a new phase as investigators work to re-energize an effort that has failed to yield any sign of debris — or of the 239 passengers and crew.
On Wednesday, an independent research group released audio of a sound in the ocean recorded by sophisticated underwater microphones, but acknowledged there was only a slim chance it was related to MH370. The sound came from an area closer to India, far north of where the search has been focused off Australia’s west coast.
