Bluefin-21 resumes MH370 search

Canberra, May 22 (IANS) Deep-sea underwater search vehicle Bluefin-21 has resumed its search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 after an eight-day hiatus, the joint agency coordinating the search said Thursday.

The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Bluefin-21, deployed in the search area in the southern Indian Ocean, was taken for repairs May 14 for a reported hardware issue.

The Bluefin-21 was deployed from Australian defence vessel (ADV) Ocean Shield at around 2 a.m., the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) here stated.

Over the next week, the Bluefin-21 would search the remaining areas in the vicinity of the acoustic signals detected early April by the Towed Pinger Locator deployed from the Ocean Shield.

The Ocean Shield is anticipated to leave the search area May 28 and return to Fleet Base West May 31 where it will demobilise the Bluefin-21 and disembark the support team.

A Chinese ship Zhu Kezhen Wednesday started its bathymetric survey or mapping of the ocean floor of the search area in the southern Indian Ocean.

Another Chinese ship Haixun 01 will assist Thursday's search.

The Australian defence force's military coordination and sub-surface planning team, in consultation with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, will also further assist the search for the missing jet.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished mysteriously about an hour after taking off for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur shortly after midnight March 8.

The Boeing 777-200ER was scheduled to land in Beijing the same morning. The 227 passengers on board included five Indians, 154 Chinese and 38 Malaysians.