A US-based company has dispatched a ship into the Indian Ocean in hopes of quickly resuming the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 The deal was made on a "no cure, no fee" basis, meaning the company will only be paid by the Malaysian government if plane is recovered.
The search vessel named Seabed Constructor left the South African port of Durban on Tuesday as part of the Ocean Infinity company’s plan to look for debris in the southern Indian Ocean. The ship has unmanned submarines that can descend deep into the ocean.
Ocean Infinity was taking advantage of favorable weather to move the vessel toward “the vicinity of the possible search zone,” the company said in a statement.
The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared soon into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. The plane was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew.
The governments of Malaysia, China and Australia called off the 1,046-day official search on Jan. 17 last year. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau’s final report on the search conceded that authorities were no closer to knowing the reasons for the plane’s disappearance, or its exact location.
Australia ran the original search on behalf of Malaysia because the airliner is thought to have crashed in the vast area of Australian search and rescue responsibility.
Search conditions are best during the current southern hemisphere summer, before the colder months bring storm-force winds and mountainous seas.
