One of the world's expert wreck hunters believes searchers for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane have pinpointed the crash site and that the recovery of the black boxes is inevitable.
David Mearns, director of Blue Water Recoveries told the ABC's 7.30 program on Tuesday that he was confident that, because of their strength, the four “pings” detected were emitted from the black boxes.
"I think essentially they have found the wreckage site," he said.
“While the government hasn't announced that yet, if somebody asked me 'technically do they have enough information to say that?', my answer is unequivocally, yes.
“They have got four very, very good detections with the right spectrum of noise coming from them and it can't be from anything else.”
Mr Mearns, an American, was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his work after he found the wreckage of HMAS Sydney in 2008, 66 years after it had been lost in the Indian Ocean during World War II.
He also helped find the wreckage of Air France flight 447 deep in the Atlantic Ocean in 2011.
Mr Mearns believes search officials are being cautious for the sake of the families of the passengers and crew who were on board, while they wait for the Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle to bring back photographic proof of the plane wreckage.
16/04/14 Amanda Hoh/Sydney Morning Herald
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David Mearns, director of Blue Water Recoveries told the ABC's 7.30 program on Tuesday that he was confident that, because of their strength, the four “pings” detected were emitted from the black boxes.
"I think essentially they have found the wreckage site," he said.
“While the government hasn't announced that yet, if somebody asked me 'technically do they have enough information to say that?', my answer is unequivocally, yes.
“They have got four very, very good detections with the right spectrum of noise coming from them and it can't be from anything else.”
Mr Mearns, an American, was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his work after he found the wreckage of HMAS Sydney in 2008, 66 years after it had been lost in the Indian Ocean during World War II.
He also helped find the wreckage of Air France flight 447 deep in the Atlantic Ocean in 2011.
Mr Mearns believes search officials are being cautious for the sake of the families of the passengers and crew who were on board, while they wait for the Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle to bring back photographic proof of the plane wreckage.
16/04/14 Amanda Hoh/Sydney Morning Herald
