The four planes are scrutinising the area to see if two large objects spotted in satellite imagery floating in the remote ocean were debris from the missing Malaysian Airways flight on March 8th  with 239 souls on board. This is the pinnacle of disasters the airline has been facing in recent times.  Though most of them are of financial nature.

A particular objects is estimated to be around 24 meters (almost 80 feet) in length and the other was 5 meters (15 feet). Officials have also stated that other smaller objects can be seen in the area. The area in question is about a four-hour flight from Australia’s southwestern coast, said John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority’s emergency response division. “This is a lead, it’s probably the best lead we have right now,” Young announced in a press conference. Though he did caution that the debris could be seaborne objects along a shipping route where containers can fall off cargo vessels, although the larger object appears a little larger than a container. A statement released from the authorities an hour ago said the four planes searched an area of 23,000 square kilometers (8,800 square miles) about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth on Thursday without success. The officials have confirmed that a thorough search will continue tomorrow. 

The information that possible parts of the aircraft had been found initiated a new saga in the emotional yoyo for distraught relatives of the passengers, who have criticized Malaysia severely for not releasing accurate information in a timely manner. “If it turns out that it is truly MH370 then we will accept that fate,” said Selamat Bin Omar, the father of a Malaysian passenger on the jet, which carried mostly Chinese and Malaysian nationals. He is cautious and said that relatives still “do not yet know for sure whether this is indeed MH370 or something else, hence we are still waiting for further notice from the Australian government.”

Malaysian defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein told a press conference today that “for all the families around the world, the one piece of information that they want most is the information we just don’t have, the location of MH370.” Young said the depth of the ocean in the latest area, which is south from where the search had been focused since Monday, is several thousand metres (yards). The area where the debris was spotted is about halfway between Australia and desolate islands off the Antarctic.

Malaysian Airways MAS has managed to avoid bankruptcy. In 2013 it flew RM1.17 billion loss despite a 9 per cent rise in revenue. This demonstrates that the ailing flag carrier is saddled with “legacy issues” — despite a touted turnaround. It may still require to go into bankruptcy industry specialist say. For several month they said that a orderly bankruptcy option may be needed for MAS to break out of the doldrums from which it has lurched from one disaster to another. Last year the the national asset manager Khazanah Nasional has ruled out selling off the airline and one has to wonder what the strategy is now in the aftermath of this disaster that struck so many families. “Khazanah needs to come to terms with the fact that MAS, as it is with its current cost structure, cannot continue. One way is to close it under creditor protection, say those who are in the know. They cite internal reasons such as overstaffing,  lopsided procurement contracts and no cost control,  for these developments.  Externally the Malaysian Airlines is facing cutthroat competition from both in Malaysia and from abroad, with new budget carrier Malindo Air now joining AirAsia in whittling away at MAS’s profits. Bankruptcy or sell out? Which will it be?