Next phase of underwater search for MH370 wreckage months away

The underwater hunt for the wreckage of missing Malaysian Airline flight MH370 will be put on hold this week, a top Australian transport safety official has said.

According to CNN, the new timeline means that once Bluefin-21, the American underwater drone operated by a team on board the Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield, wraps up its work in a couple of days, it will be up to two months, if not longer, until new underwater vehicles are contracted and deployed in the hunt for MH370.

Martin Dolan, Chief Commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau said that the Australian government is planning to post its request for tenders for the next phase of the search of the ill-fated jet in the next week

Dolan said that the aim would be to have to negotiate and agree to contract with a successful tender within two months of the release of the tender documentation.

The report added that officials have publicly said they would prefer the next phase of the underwater search, which could take up to a year, to be led by a single private contractor who will operate several underwater assets in the search zone.