Australian vessel back in MH370 search area

The Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Ocean Shield has returned to the search area to continue the underwater hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said Wednesday.

The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) Bluefin-21 was deployed from Ocean Shield Tuesday but was brought back two hours later to investigate communications problems.

Bluefin-21's communication issue is still under probe and the AUV has not been re-deployed.

A Chinese survey ship is also in the search area and will assist future operations.

Vessels from Australia, Malaysia and China and a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft remain on standby should any debris surface.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished mysteriously about an hour after taking off for Beijing from Kuala Lumpur shortly after midnight March 8.

The Boeing 777-200ER was scheduled to land in Beijing the same morning. The 227 passengers on board included five Indians, 154 Chinese and 38 Malaysians.