Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 Latest News: Mission to Find Missing Plane Resumes
Six months since the mysterious disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, it has been reported that the search for the missing aircraft will resume sometime this month.
Australia is helping with the search for the missing plane and the country recently tapped Dutch oil and gas consulting firm Fugro NV to lead the search in the Indian Ocean. It is said that the search could take up to a year once the search resumes this month as it covers an area spanning 50,000 square kilometers.
Investigators are convinced that the plane may be found in the Southern Indian Ocean, off the coast of Australia. The plane, which disappeared en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people mostly made up of Chinese citizens, is said to have most likely crashed in the Indian Ocean after running out of fuel.
Since the search started, the Wall Street Journal reports that more than 87,000 square meters of undersea topography have been surveyed, and the survey work revealed a dramatic and deeper than expected underwater landscape which revealed the presence of underwater dormant volcanoes.
It is said that the renewed search for the missing aircraft will cost $49 million. The website reports that the Australian and Malaysian governments signed an agreement last month to share the costs for the upcoming search effort.
Meanwhile, friends and family members of those who were aboard the plane have been given a fresh wave of hope upon learning of the rebooted search. Philip Wood was one of the people aboard the plane, and his life partner Sarah Bajc is hoping that the search will finally come to an end.
"Closure means a final answer and being able to bring our loved ones back," said Bajc to CBS News. "I need to bring Philip home to bury him properly or to have him back in my life. One of the two."