PERTH - A U.S. Navy-operated Bluefin Robotics unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) continues to search the depths of the Indian Ocean for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370. Flight 370 disappeared on March 8 with 239 people onboard during a trip from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing, China.
This is the Bluefin 21's fifth attempt to find the Boeing 777 airliner. The UUV creates sonar maps of the ocean bottom. So far, the Bluefin 21 has covered 110 square kilometers, but has found no trace of the missing aircraft.
The Bluefin 21 hit a record depth during its last attempt to find the 777 airliner. The UUV is searching a remote stretch of ocean floor about 4,500 meters deep.
The U.S. Navy's UUV cut short its first mission on April 7 because it exceeded its maximum operating depth of 4,500 meters. Officials are now confident the UUV can safely go deeper than was thought. This will allow the Bluefin 21 to cover the entire search area, which has been narrowed based on further analysis of the four underwater signals previously detected.
On April 18, 11 aircraft and 12 ships were continuing the surface search across about 52,000 square kilometers of ocean.
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