Perth: A robotic mini-submarine deployed to find the Malaysia Airlines plane today completed its 14th mission with still no sign of wreckage, even as the planned air and surface search was suspended due to inclement weather.
Autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin 21, a US Navy probe equipped with side-scan sonar, has focused the search on an area in the southern Indian Ocean where four acoustic signals were detected that led authorities to believe that the plane's black box may be located there.
Bluefin-21, which is scouring the ocean floor for traces of the plane, has completed mission 14 and is expected to commence mission 15 this morning, the Perth-based Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JAAC) said in a statement, as the search entered into the 51nd day.
The underwater vessel has slowly scoured 95 per cent of the ocean floor that searchers had narrowed down for it. So far, it has found no trace of the missing flight MH370.
“No contacts of interest have been found to date,” the statement said, adding that “Bluefin-21 is expected to complete the focused underwater search area and continue examining the areas adjacent to it during mission 15.”
“Due to deteriorating weather conditions, the planned air and surface search has been suspended for today,” it said.
