Acoustic pings prove fruitless in search for missing MH370
Australian officials have said the missing MH370 Malaysian Airways aircraft is not located in the area where acoustic signals were earlier detected.
The Bluefin-21 submersible robot earlier finished a search of the area, with no evidence of the aircraft found.
Flight MH370 went missing on March 8th as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, onboard.
Efforts will now return to reviewing satellite data and surveying the sea floor, officials added.
No trace of the plane has been located since it disappeared.
Four audio pings, possibly from the ‘black box’ onboard the missing plane, were heard by search teams using specialist equipment earlier this month.
These sounds were used to designate an area of the sea bed where the most recent search was focused.
However, after scouring over 850 sq km of the ocean floor, nothing has been located.
The next stage of the search has seen a Chinese ship begin mapping an area of ocean floor in a survey process that was expected to take three months.
Meanwhile, Australian officials will soon seek bids from commercial contractors for the specialist equipment needed for the underwater search.