Third Australian vessel joins MH370 search

Underwater search operations to locate the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 have re-commenced with Australian vessel GO Phoenix beginning its maiden voyage this week.

Over 3,000 square km of the ocean floor has been searched since the flight went missing March 8. However, efforts to locate the plane, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew members, have so far proved futile, Xinhua reported Wednesday.

Go Phoenix departed Fremantle, on the south coast of Western Australia, Monday. It will be used to help scour a further 160,000 square km marked as search area.

It joins two other dedicated search vessels, Fugro Discovery and Fugro Equator to comb through parts of the southern Indian Ocean, where it (MH370) is believed to have spiralled out of control.

Both Fugro Discovery and Fugro Equator returned to Australian shores last week due to severe weather warnings off the coast of Western Australia. However, Fugro Discovery returned to sea Monday while Fufro Equator is set to rejoin search efforts set to rejoin search efforts later in the week.

Ahead of the Australian summer, which begins December, weather conditions are likely to improve, enabling the three search vessels to spend prolonged periods offshore.

But, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), which was established by the Australian government to support the search for flight MH370, has warned that the end might not be near in the search for the missing plane.

"It involves vast areas of the Indian Ocean with only limited known data and aircraft flight information," said a JACC statement Wednesday.