Bad weather stalls search for missing plane

Bad weather and choppy seas in Indian Ocean has stalled search operations of missing plane MH370, Malaysian news agency Bernama said Tuesday citing the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA). AMSA expects wave up to two metres high and an associated swell of up to four metres, strong gale force winds of up to 80km per hour, periods of heavy rain, and low cloud with a ceiling between 60 and 150 metres in the search areas. In a statement today the authority said, “AMSA has undertaken a risk assessment and determined that the weather conditions would make any air and sea search activities hazardous and pose a risk to crew. “AMSA therefore suspends all sea and air search operations for today due to these weather conditions.” It said according to the Bureau of Meteorology, the weather conditions in the search area were expected to improve in the evening and over the next few days. Search operations are expected to resume Wednesday, if weather conditions permit. It said due to rough seas, HMAS Success departed the search area early Tuesday morning and was now in transit south of the search area until seas abate. The ship will return to the search area once weather conditions improve, the Bernama report said.