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Key MH370 search piece lost

ABC

ABC

A key piece of equipment involved in the search for missing Malaysian Airlines jet MH370 has been lost after it crashed into an underwater mud volcano in the Indian Ocean.

The Fugro Discovery’s sonar vehicle towfish hit the ocean formation while searching the ocean floor yesterday, forcing its tow cable to break.

“The towfish collided with a mud volcano, which rises 2,200 metres from the seafloor, resulting in the vehicle’s tow cable breaking,” the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) said in a statement.

What the MH370 search has uncovered so far
• Debris not from MH370
• Search for MH370 reveals second shipwreck in Indian Ocean

“The towfish and 4,500 metres of cable became separated from the vessel and are now resting on the sea floor.”

Crews are hoping to recover the vehicle at a later date.

The ship is heading back to Fremantle and its spare towfish vehicle will be prepared for future search activities.

The Australian-led underwater search, the most expensive ever conducted, has so far found no trace of the plane, which went missing with 239 passengers and crew during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March 2014.

Last year, a flaperon wing part that washed up on the shore of Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean was formally identified as part of the plane wreckage.

Last month, sonar imaging from one of the search vessels, Havila Harmony, turned up a shipwreck resting on the ocean floor off Australia’s west coast.

In May 2015, another ship was found in the search for the missing plane, believed to be a 19th century cargo ship.

The hunt for MH370 has already examined more than 80,000 square kilometres of the sea floor.

The search is continuing, but is expected to wrap up in mid 2016 once it reaches its 12,000-square-kilometre target.

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