Ocean Infinity has three identical Armada-class vessels which are optimised for underwater search missions. Photo: Ocean Infinity.
The search for the missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370 has resumed on a no find, no fee basis, more than a decade after the aircraft went missing.
The Boeing 777-200ER was on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumper to Beijing on 8 March 2014, but is thought to have run out of fuel and crashed in the southern Indian Ocean some 1500 km west-southwest of Perth. It had 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, six of whom were Australian.
About 40 minutes after takeoff, the aircraft was tracked initially by civilian radar deviating from its intended course and turning back west over the South China Sea and crossing the Malay Peninsula, and then on military radar heading north of the islands of Penang and Sumatra into the Andaman Sea where contact was lost.
It is then thought the aircraft turned south, and has been reported to have been ‘spotted’ when its automated communications systems linked with an Inmarsat satellite well to the south over the southern Indian Ocean.
Just how the aircraft came to be thousands of kilometres in the opposite direction of the intended flight path remains a mystery, despite several theories including crew hypoxia, hijacking, or malicious intent by one or both of the pilots. The ATSB’s final report found the course of the aircraft had been changed manually, but could not determine intent.
For nearly three years between May 2014 and January 2017 the Australian Transportation Safety Bureau (ATSB) led a search for the aircraft involving multiple aircraft, ships and submersibles from many nations covering three million square kilometres in the air and more than 120,000 square kilometres underwater.
But without any real clues as to its exact last position and the ocean being several thousand metres deep, the only traces found were several small pieces of wreckage washed up on Indian Ocean islands or on the east coast of Africa.
Boeing 777-200ER 9M-MRO, the aircraft that disappeared while operating as Flight MH370. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
Now, some eight years after the initial search was called off, a new group has recommenced the search on a ‘no find, no fee’ basis with an in-principle but not yet official support of the Malaysian Government.
Ocean Infinity has dispatched its drone mothership Armada 7806 to use a flotilla of advanced underwater autonomous vehicles to conduct an initial six-week search. These drones are a big advance over those used in the original search and are capable of diving to depths of more than 6000 metres and staying submerged for up to 100 hours at a time.
The new search will concentrate on an area of 15,000 square kilometres, the area of which has been determined by data collated and refined over the past decade. After initially arriving in the search area on 25 February, the vessels docked at Henderson in WA on 4 March for provisioning and refuelling, and are reportedly expected to return to the search area on 6 March.
Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on 4 March the contract between his government and Ocean Infinity was yet to be finalised, but the firm had already deployed the ship to the area.
He said he welcomed “the proactiveness of Ocean Infinity to deploy their ships” to begin the search. “They have convinced us that they are ready,” he said.
If the aircraft is found, the Malaysian Government would pay Ocean Infinity a reward of $70 million.
The company describes itself as, “a pioneer of large-scale marine robotic operations deploying robotic technologies to capture ocean data and deliver maritime solutions whilst minimising our environmental footprint. We are building the world’s largest fleet of marine robotic vehicles, offering the safest and most sustainable operations the industry has ever seen”.
The company appears to have made no public statements on the search on its website or social media channels.
