News
Robotic sub turns up nothing in search: MH370

April 17, 2014 – PERTH, Australia – A robotic submarine has completed its first full 16-hour mission scanning the floor of the Indian Ocean for wreckage of the missing Malaysian airliner after two previous missions were cut short by technical problems and deep water, authorities said on Thursday.

The Bluefin 21 had covered 90 square kilometres (35 square miles) of the silt-covered sea bed off the west Australian coast in its first three missions, the search co-ordinationcentre said on Thursday. While data collected by the sub from its latest mission, which ended overnight, was still being analyzed, nothing of note had yet been discovered, the centre said.

A total of 12 planes and 11 ships were to join what could be the final day of the surface ocean search for debris from the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777.

Thursday's search would cover a 40,300-square-kilometre (15,600-square-mile) patch of sea about 2,200 kilometres (1,400 miles) northwest of the Australian city of Perth, the centre said.

When the sea bed search began this week, authorities announced that the days of the fruitless surface search were numbered as the chances of success dwindled. | READ MORE