Flight MH370 Update: Chinese Vessel To Resume Search, Recover Lost Towfish Amid Suspected Plane Debris Analysis

Australian authorities said Friday that Chinese vessel Dong Hai Jiu 101 will resume search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 after being fitted with a key search equipment. Australian Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Darren Chester, was on board the vessel in Fremantle.

The vessel was equipped with Phoenix International's Remora III remote operated vehicle (ROV), which will help in the recovery of the lost SLH-ProSAS-60 towfish, authorities reportedly said. Earlier this year, authorities said that search team lost a deep-water detector, or towfish, after it hit an underwater volcano and sank to the ocean floor.

"The ship will embark on a mission in the next few days to recover the SLH-ProSAS towfish which detached from the vessel during its previous search effort," Chester said, in a statement. "I wish the crew well in both the recovery mission and their ongoing efforts to locate MH370 in the 120,000 square kilometre search area."

Three vessels — Fugro Discovery, Fugro Equator and Dong Hai Jiu 101 — are currently involved in the search for Flight MH370, which went missing March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board while on its way from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

An underwater search for the Boeing 777-200 has continued for more than two years in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean with no concrete clues as to the whereabouts of the plane. In July 2015, a flaperon belonging to Flight MH370 turned up on the French-controlled Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean.

After months of search, which has cost nearly $70 million, several suspected pieces of the plane wreckage have been spotted in Mozambique and South Africa. Most recently, debris similar to the interior of a plane has been found on a Mauritian island. The Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is leading the search for the missing plane, is analyzing all the debris found over the last few months to determine their origin.