China sends underwater sonar vessel to join search for Flight MH370

It is nearly two years since Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared without trace and since then the only trace of the aircraft has been the part of a flaperon which washed up on the shores of Réunion Island and which was discovered on the 29th July 2015. Of the 239 passengers and crew on board, 153 were listed on the manifest as Chinese. It has now been confirmed that China was further contributing to the search by sending the sonar-equipped Dong Hai Jiu 101 to join the three existing search vessels, Fugro Discovery, Fugro Equator and Havila Harmony.
The ship, which was offered to Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in November, is expected to be operational by the end of February when weather conditions, which have recently been hampering the search, will have improved. It is due to leave Singapore on 31st January and its sonar equipment will be operated by Phoenix International and Hydrospheric Solutions, who have previously been involved in the search.
Towards the end of December last year it was announced by the Australian authorities that the search would be concluded by the end of June 2016. To date it is estimated that over 30,000 square miles have been covered in the world’s largest and most expensive search in aviation history. Malaysia has invested over US$70m alone, while the Australian Government spent over US$84m searching an area of 23,000 square miles of the sea floor off the coast of Perth. China has so far spent over US$14m.
With a further refining of the search area and despite the time spent so far in the search, confidence that the aircraft will be located is still high. The Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre have gone so far as to announce in a statement that: “In the event the aircraft is found and accessible, Australia, Malaysia and the People’s Republic of China have agreed to plans for recovery activities, including securing all the evidence necessary for the accident investigation.”