Malaysia to deploy more equipment

Malaysia will send more equipment to the southern Indian Ocean to join the search for Flight MH370 which went missing four months ago, a minister said yesterday.
Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said a Malaysian navy ship equipped with a multi-beam echo sounder -- a device to map the ocean floor -- would set sail on August 4 for the deep-sea search zone far off western Australia.
State energy firm Petronas, together with Deftech and Phoenix International, would deploy a towed device called a synthetic aperture sonar to scan the ocean floor, he said.
Shipbuilder Boustead Heavy Industries, together with iXBlue Australia, would send a deep towed side scan sonar with a remotely operated vehicle.
"Instructions for immediate mobilisation have been given and the assets are expected to reach the search area in mid-August 2014," Hishammuddin said.
He did not give a cost estimate.
Another Malaysian vessel which was deployed in April will stay in the search area, he added.
The Malaysia Airlines flight lost contact on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard.
It is believed to have veered off course and -- based on satellite data analysis -- to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.
But an extensive Australian-led search has so far found no sign of wreckage.
Australian officials announced last month that the search would shift further south based on a review of the satellite data.
They also said the Boeing 777 was almost certainly on autopilot when it ran out of fuel and crashed.