Australian gov't reiterates commitment to search for MH370

According to the latest operational search report by the JACC, four ships, namely Fugro Equator, Fugro Discovery, Fugro Support and Go Phoenix, are either in the search area or on the way to the search area.

So far, around 18,000 square kilometres of the seafloor have been searched, which is around 30 percent of the priority search area. Around 208,000 square kilometres of the wide search area have been analysed and mapped.

With no significant delays with vessels, equipment or from the weather, the current underwater search area may be largely completed around May 2015.

On April 28, 2014, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the search for MH370 would move from surface search and recovery to a new intensified underwater search.

At a Tripartite Meeting on May 5, 2014, Malaysia, China and Australia agreed that the next phase of the search for MH370 involved three major stages, namely reviewing all existing information and analysis to define a priority search zone of up to 60,000 square kilometres along the seventh arc in the southern Indian Ocean; conducting a bathymetric survey to map the sea floor in the defined search area; and acquiring the specialist services required for a comprehensive search of the sea floor in that area.

In the recent Federal Budget, the Australian government announced it will provide up to 89.9 million AU dollars ($72 million) over two years from 201314 as part of Australia's contribution to the search for MH370.