In Perth, Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) leading the search said Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) Bluefin-21 scouring the Indian Ocean seabed for wreckage of the plane has failed to yield results after 14 missions and searching over 95 per cent of the focused underwater search area.
The Bluefin - a US Navy probe equipped with side-scan sonar - is currently completing mission 15 even as the planned air and surface search was suspended for today due to deteriorating weather conditions.
No contacts of interest have been found to date and the robotic mini-submarine is expected to continue examining the areas adjacent to it during mission 15, the JACC said in a statement 51 days after the plane vanished from radar screens. Obama, whose visit to Malaysia is the first by a sitting US President since President Lyndon B Johnson in 1966, said he “completely understands the heartache the families are going through and want some answers”.
Malaysia is the third leg of his four-nation tour of Asia that has taken him to Japan and South Korea.
