Beijing: Chinese high-resolution satellites have found three oil slicks which scientists believe might be linked to the missing Malaysian plane, providing a new direction to the multinational search operations which have failed to spot the wreckage.
The Institute of Remote Sensing and Digital Earth of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said that its findings are based on comparison of remote-sensing satellite images of the oil patterns on the ocean surface in the targeted area before and after the plane went missing.
It is not clear whether the oil slicks are the same as those found earlier by search and rescue forces, the institute said.
The institute is cooperating with various departments, including the National Marine Environmental Forecasting Centre, to determine the hypothetical location of oil from the plane by analysing factors such as the speed of local currents and timeline for the missing plane in order to confirm whether the oil slicks are related to the plane, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
China yesterday pressed ten high-resolution satellites to look for the missing plane.
