Search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 resumes

Sydney, Sep 30: Search teams will resume the hunt for the missing

flight

off the Australian coast Wednesday, media reported.

The teams will use new three-dimensional maps and underwater devices to assist their search efforts on the floor of the southern Indian Ocean, Xinhua reported Tuesday.

One of the largest international aviation searches in history has been under way after MH370 disappeared with 239 people on board March 8 this year.

According to the Australian Safety Transport Bureau (ASTB), which is leading the search, a Malaysian ship, GO Phoenix, is expected to arrive at the newly defined search area far off the Western Australian coast Wednesday and stay for 20 days before refuelling.

On Thursday, a second ship, the Fugro Discovery, will arrive at Fremantle to join the search.

The two ships will use sonar and submersible crafts to venture 16,000 feet (4,880 metre) deep to scan the priority sections of the search arc.

A third ship, the Fugro Equator, which is currently mapping the sea floor, will join the other two vessels at the end of October.

So far, more than 106,000 square km of the search area have been surveyed, the ASTB said.

"The comprehensive plan for the underwater search will include a sequence of priority areas. The first area to be searched has already been surveyed to ensure an accurate understanding of the sea floor topography," the ASTB said.

Authorities said the recent refinement of the analysis has given greater certainty about when the aircraft turned south into the Indian Ocean.

"Based on these refinements, the Search Strategy Working Group is finalising its latest assessment of the highest priority areas for the search, which will most likely extend south of the previous 'orange' priority area," the ASTB said.

MH370 had taken off from Kuala Lumpur early March 8 headed for Beijing but disappeared from the radar soon after. Despite a large-scale international search, no trace of the flight has been found till date.

IANS