The Bluefin-21 AUV, which was last night deployed in a search mission for the missing flight MH370, has returned to the surface after six hours of scanning the depths.
The AUV exceeded its operating depth limit of 4,500 meters and its built in safety feature returned it to the surface.
In yesterday’s mission the search area covered around 600 sq km, and during today’s search AMSA plans to cover an area of 62,063 sq km.
Nine military aircraft, two civil aircraft and 11 ships will assist in today’s visual search, Joint Agency Coordination Centre informed.
Redeployment of Bluefin-21 is planned when weather conditions permit.
Earlier the Ocean Shield vessel discovered an oil slick that could relate to the missing aircraft, and it will take couple of days to examine the samples of the collected oil.
The Boeing 777 vanished on March 08 with 239 people on board, and today is the 39th day of the search operations.
Related:
Bluefin-21 AUV Deployed in Search for Missing Flight MH370
Ocean Shield Detects New Signals in Search for Missing MH370
Subsea World News Staff, April 15, 2014; Image: Bluefin/AMSA