KUALA LUMPUR: The search for the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean is expected to resume today, said the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC).
The agency, which oversees the search operation, said the Fugro Discovery vessel had done conducting routine resupply and departed the port of Fremantle in Western Australia.
“It is expected to arrive in the search area on July 2 (today) to recommence search operations,” the agency said in a statement yesterday.
Another vessel, Fugro Equator, had also departed the port and was expected to arrive in the search area on Monday to recommence the search operations, it said.
The Fugro were the only two vessels currently tasked with looking for the aircraft, after another vessel, GO Phoenix, ceased the deep-sea operation on June 20, with its contract reported to have ended.
Transport Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had said that Malaysia was committed to continuing into the second phase of the search operation which would involve an additional area of 60,000 sq km.
JACC said that so far more than 50,000 sq km of the sea floor had been searched in the first phase that covered 60,000 sq km.
Flight MH370 dropped off radar on March 8 last year as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board.
The Boeing 777 aircraft has yet to be found, even after an exhaustive search in the southern Indian Ocean where it is believed to have gone down after veering off course.
On Jan 29 this year, the Malaysian Department of Civil Aviation announced that the disappearance of the aircraft was an accident based on international aviation rules and that all 239 people on board were deemed to have lost their lives. — Bernama