MH370 Mystery: Debris resembling pieces of aircraft spotted on Andhra Coast

Kuala Lumpur: On Wednesday, a news report by a Telegu news channel cited fishermen spotting debris floating off the coast of Andhra that resembled pieces of an aircraft. The debris was spotted floating at Kutta Gouduru beach in T P Gudur mandal of Nellore district in south coastal Andhra off Bay of Bengal. The incident comes in the background of a massive search operation trying to locate a missing Malaysian Airlines planes, with 239 people on board, that went missing on March 8. There are speculations that the plane might have taken a deliberate detour towards Indian Ocean or Bay of Bengal. The local authorities have alerted the top officials about the unidentified debris. READ MORE: Is the satellite image uploaded by Hyderabad techie, of the missing Malaysian Airlines flight? In a related development, Malaysian defence ministry has said that files were 'recently' deleted from the home flight simulator assembled by the pilot of the MH370. The investigations are trying to retrieve the deleted files. The fact that none of the passengers- on board the missing flight MH 370- used or tried to use their cellphones have left the investigating agencies scratching their heads. In the age of smartphones and social media, one question surrounding the disappearance of the Malaysian airline is why none of the passengers tried to contact relatives, as they did during the 9/11 attacks. Even the absence of phone calls or emails from those on board the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 could provide clues for investigators struggling to solve one of the greatest mysteries of modern aviation. It may indicate that the plane was flying too high or was over water, or that the passengers were unconscious, possibly due to a change in cabin pressure. Experts say the chances of the 239 people on board Flight 370 being able to use their mobile devices would have been better the closer they were to a mobile network on the ground. Many are sceptical that the passengers or crew would have been able to establish and maintain a call using cellphones while travelling at speed, particularly at cruising altitude. For mobile phones to be used, there must be a contact between the handset and the network -- known as a "handshake". This requires a strong enough signal from both a transmission tower and the phone. "Theoretically, 23,000 feet (7,000 metres) and 45,000 feet are a cell range that terrestrial mobile network could work with," said Singapore-based telecommunications consultant Koh Chee Koon, referring to unconfirmed reports of changes in the plane's altitude after it lost radar contact. But given the limited transmission power of a commercial mobile phone, as well as the barrier presented by the plane body, "for the mobile phone to connect to the mobile network with acceptable strength and quality would require some luck", added Koh. Experts note that in the case of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, the planes were flying at relatively low altitude over areas with cellphone coverage. In any case most of the calls are believed to have been made from seatback phones and not mobile devices. In the picture, a relative of a passenger onboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cries at the Beijing Capital International Airport.