Latest deep-sea search for missing MH370 flight begins
Deep-sea search efforts were launched in the Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, and efforts to solve one of the biggest mysteries of aviation for more than a decade were revived after the jet disappeared with 239 people on board.
The Malaysian Transport Ministry said on Wednesday that the search vessel Armada 86 05 had arrived at a designated search area along with two autonomous underwater vehicles.
The location of the search area was not disclosed in the statement. It was stated that the ship was preparing to search at Fremantle Port in Western Australia.
The government did not specifically mention Ocean Infinity, the company that conducted a previous search and was long planned to lead the new search. But the ship the government identified by number was widely identified by maritime and aviation websites as belonging to Ocean Infinity.
In early December, the Malaysian government said the Texas-based marine robotics firm would begin searching targeted areas of the seabed under a renewed “no find, no charge” deal.
Ocean Infinity confirmed it was continuing to search for MH370 but declined to comment further, citing the “important and sensitive nature” of the operation.
Ocean Infinity had previously searched the seabed under a similar contract in 2018, but did not find any traces of the plane. The company said it has since upgraded its technology and improved its analysis. Chief executive Oliver Plunkett said last year that the firm worked with multiple experts and narrowed down the search area to what it believed was the most likely crash site.
Earlier this year, Ocean Infinity briefly resumed seabed exploration operations in a new 15,000 square kilometer area in the southern Indian Ocean after receiving approval from Malaysia, but that work was suspended in April due to bad weather.
The Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared from radar shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur towards Beijing on March 8, 2014. Satellite data later showed that the plane deviated from its planned route and flew south into the far southern Indian Ocean, where investigators believe it crashed. No explanation was given regarding the route change.
An expensive and lengthy multinational search effort failed to locate the plane, but pieces of debris believed to be from the plane were later washed ashore off the coast of East Africa and onto Indian Ocean islands. No major wreckage or bodies have ever been found.
