Searching for the missing Malaysian jet the old fashioned way

New Delhi: The world's attention is focused on the Norwegian ship HMAS Success. It is looking for the objects believed to be debris of ill-fated Malaysian flight MH-370.

The ship's commander, Captain Allison Norris, says her crew's attention is very much on the job at hand.

According to a report in leading Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald, the search is being conducted in an old-fashioned way.

- Speaking from about 900 nautical miles (1670 kilometers) South-West of Perth, Captain Norris told Fairfax Media by phone that the crew's focus is being channeled by the knowledge they need to provide answers to the loved ones of the people on board the missing flight MH370.

- The Success expects to reach the search area by Saturday afternoon but faces rough weather on Sunday.

- Barring further information from the six surveillance planes working overhead, the ship will head first to the most likely place to find the two objects identified by the satellites, taking into account ocean currents during the six days since the images were taken.

- Once there, members of the 220-strong crew will start searching the old fashioned way, standing up on the upper decks with binoculars and scanning the sea.

- While the ship has sophisticated radar systems, these will be of little use for the kind of debris expected to be left from the plane.

- Weather forecasts suggest that by Sunday, "sea states of three or four" are expected - which in lay terminology, translates to waves of up to four metres. It won't be easy to spot anything in the sea.

- If the Success does find anything, it has a crane to haul the debris on board, depending on the size and the weight. It also has inflatable boats to check out debris closely and even diving equipment - though these will be difficult to use in the kind of weather forecast for Sunday.

- It is a prospect, however distant it might appear nearly two weeks after the plane went missing, that there could still be people clinging to life rafts or wreckage. It is a slim hope, but one that the crew is mindful of.

- As the Success made full steam for the search area, China announced it will send at least three of its own warships down to help.