MH370 search ship returns to port for resupply

Seabed Constructor, the vessel operated by Ocean Infinity to look for MH370, is now on route back to Fremantle, Western Australia, for a crew change and resupply. The ship has completed the second of a planned four searches each of about six weeks duration. According to Victor Iannello of mh370.radiantphysics.com “there have been no promising sonar “contacts” that might represent the debris field of the missing aircraft.” Mr Iannello leads a global group of scientists called the Independent Group who have conducted their own search for MH370 and worked with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau. In his blog, Mr Iannello said that there remains about 3,000 sq km of seabed to search in the area that the ATSB and CSIRO designated as a priority.

Once the Seabed Constructor returns to sea it will complete the priority area and then move further north to cover areas identified by the Independent Group and the University of WA Read: Malaysia puts the final MH370 report on hold The University of Western Australia’s Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi said last year that its drift modeling suggested MH370 could be within a 40km radius of Longitude 96.5° E Latitude 32.5° S. Perth is at latitude 31.95° S. “Results of our oceanographic drift modeling indicate that the priority region to target would be the area between 33°S and 28°S along the 7th arc,” Professor Pattiaratchi told AirlineRatings.com recently. “Longitude 96.5° E Latitude 32.5° S – was the origin of the particles that were used to direct Blaine Gibson to find debris in the western Indian Ocean.” Some members of the Independent Group of experts believe it may be even further north and a map issued by the Malaysians identifies “site extensions”, one of which ranges north of 29° S. Ocean Infinity is contracted to the Malaysian Government to find MH 370 and has 90 days in which to conduct it on a “no cure, no fee” basis. The clock does not run while the ship returns to port to refuel and resupply. Separately, the Malaysian Government, the ATSB, and the Independent Group have dismissed claims that MH370 has been found using Google Earth. The Malaysian government labeled the story “unfounded and baseless.”