MORE than three years after MH370 went off the radar, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau has found evidence that as good as pinpoints the location of the missing Boeing 777, say news reports.

In a statement today accompanying the release of two new reports from Geosciences Australia and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), ATSB said the likely search zone for the airplane had been narrowed down to just 5,000sq km, or about half the size of the city of Melbourne.

Drift modelling released late last year had identified an area of 25,000sq km just outside the original search area.

ATSB said a refinement of that drift modelling as well as satellite images taken by the French military satellite in late March 2014 had narrowed the search area down.

ATSB chief Greg Hood Geosciences Australia had analysed the satellite imagery in which the jet may have disappeared and found several man-made objects at the bottom of the ocean.

“We have today released two reports, prepared by Geoscience Australia and CSIRO.

“They provide analysis and findings relating to satellite imagery taken on March 23, 2014, two weeks after the disappearance of MH370, over the southern Indian Ocean.

“Geoscience Australia identified a number of objects in the satellite imagery which have been classified as probably man-made.

“The image resolution is not high enough to be certain whether the objects originated from MH370 or are other objects that might be found floating in oceans around the world.”

While the latest report was encouraging, the object had “not been definitely identified” as being from MH370, he cautioned.

“Clearly, we must be cautious. These objects have not been definitely identified as MH370 debris.”

Hood said while it was not up to Australia to decide whether a new underwater search should be commissioned, the latest data “may be useful” in informing any further search effort “that may be mounted in the future”.

Flight MH370 bound for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur vanished on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew members on board.

A deep-sea search of 120,000sq km in the Indian Ocean ended in  rustration and was officially suspended in January. – August 16, 2017.