Ocean Infinity says searchers remain “absolutely determined” as it prepares to conduct a final sweep of the Indian Ocean seabed in its search for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
The high-tech search vessel leased by the company has returned to the West Australian port of Fremantle for resupply and crew rotation after searching almost 80,000 sq. km. of ocean floor at a rate of up to 1300 sq. km. per day.
The company said in a statement it would head back to the search area after a brief stop in Fremantle for the final phase of the search before winter weather limits its ability to continue working this year.
The sweeps have lasted about six weeks which would bring the search to the mid-June end previously indicated by the Malaysian government.
“As the team head in to port after another six weeks’ hard work, I am pleased to say our technology has performed exceptionally well throughout the search and that we have collected significant amounts of high quality data in which we have full confidence,’’ Ocean Infinity chief executive Oliver Plunkett said in a rare statement issued Monday.
“The results from the highly challenging Broken Ridge feature are particularly impressive.
“Whilst it’s disappointing there has been no sign of MH370 in the Australian Transport Safety Bureau search area and further north, there is still some search time remaining. Everyone at Ocean Infinity remains absolutely determined for the remainder of the search.”
The Seabed Constructor deployed a fleet of eight Hugin autonomous underwater vehicles to conduct the search and has at least proven the effectiveness of its technology.
The remainder of the search will be an area which still has some chance of containing MH370 but is not the area favoured by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, CSIRO and other experts.
However, drift modeling by the University of Western Australia Professor Charitha Pattiaratchi indicated the priority region that needed targeting went as far north as 28°S along the 7th arc.
The Malaysian Government contract gave Ocean Infinity 90 days to find the plane in a “no cure, no fee” search that would net the company $US70m if successful. This does not include the time spent traveling to and from port to refuel and take on new crew and supplies.
