IN AN OFFICE in central Canberra, satellite images from across the world are being beamed into the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's Rescue Co-ordination Centre.
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As the hunt for missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370 continues, a team of 40 authority officials has been pulled together to form a central war room in Braddon.
Pilots of the six aircraft involved in the search out of Perth communicate with the centre from the air. Officers at the centre also monitor data on water movement in the southern Indian Ocean, sent via satellite from marker buoys dropped in the 36,000-square-kilometre search area.
Emergency response division general manager John Young said on Friday the plan was to find the objects identified from satellite images on Thursday, as they are the best lead to where people might be found.
''We are still focused on that task, to find people to be rescued,'' Mr Young said.
The authority, on Northbourne Avenue, was established in 1990 and exists to ensure safe vessel operations, to combat marine pollution and to rescue people in trouble on the seas. It has an office in all mainland states, but a spokeswoman said the Fremantle office had no role in the MH370 search.
''Our Fremantle office is staffed with personnel dealing with ship safety (ensuring the seaworthiness and safe operation of Australian and foreign ships in Australian waters),'' she said.