New equipment to scour for MH370 up to 2 months away

[CANBERRA] It could be up to two months before new, more sophisticated equipment will be in the water to help the search for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 across what will be largely unmapped ocean floor, officials said yesterday.

The hunt for the missing MAS plane that disappeared on March 8 carrying 239 people was scaled back last week after coming up with nothing, despite an air and sea search of 4.64 million square kilometres of the southern Indian Ocean.

Australia yesterday hosted a meeting in Canberra with the transport ministers of Malaysia and China to determine the way forward, which will focus on an intensified undersea search.