Hunt for MH370 Poised to Resume as Vessel Heads for Search Zone

(Bloomberg) -- The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, modern aviation's biggest mystery, is set to resume after a U.S. exploration company sent a vessel to the search zone and said it hopes to win a contract within days.

The Boeing Co. 777 aircraft disappeared on March 8, 2014, on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.

To take advantage of summer weather, Ocean Infinity has sent the ship, Seabed Constructor, to the possible search area while it waits for a formal contract, it said in a statement. The company will undertake the search on a “no-find, no-fee basis,” and the Malaysian government is expected to make an announcement on the contract next week, the Australian newspaper reported.

Investigators believe MH370 headed south over the Indian Ocean for about six hours before plummeting into the water. A few fragments of the jet turned up on Africa's eastern seaboard but no bodies have ever been recovered. In a final report on the search last year, authorities identified about 25,000 square kilometers of remote waters west of Australia as the wreck's most likely resting place.

The 115-meter Seabed Constructor is en route to Perth from Durban, South Africa, and is due to arrive on Feb. 7, according to vessel data compiled by Bloomberg.

To contact the reporter on this story: Angus Whitley in Sydney at awhitley1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anand Krishnamoorthy at anandk@bloomberg.net, Sam Nagarajan, Lena Lee

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