Mystery and secrecy have surrounded the search ship hunting for a missing Malaysian Airlines jet after the vessel docked in Fremantle, Western Australia, on Thursday.
The ship, Seabed Constructor, owned by a US firm, has been scouring the ocean floor in the southern Indian Ocean for the wreckage from Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in a ‘no cure, no fee’ agreement for the past two weeks.
Australian broadcaster ABC said Thursday the ship had docked in Henderson, south of Perth, without addressing the rumours running rife about its recent movements.
Plenty of conspiracy theories have been swirling in the past week after the search ship went ‘dark’ when it stopped transmitting its location for three days while near the site of a historic shipwreck.
One of the theories is that it detoured to pick up a sunken chest.
The company has not commented on where the ship was and why the transponder had been mysteriously turned off. It has not responded to dpa queries.
The ship, which can be seen from nearby, would have a ‘quick turnaround’ in Perth before the crew continued with the search, ABC said, quoting a communications company representing the operator.
Malaysia will pay the Texas-based company, Ocean Infinity, up to 70 million dollars if it is successful in finding wreckage or the black box of MH370 within 90 days beginning mid-January.
The Boeing 777 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing with 239 passengers and crew on board on March 8, 2014.
Malaysia, China and Australia called off their unsuccessful search - the largest in aviation history - after three years, having spent some 150 million dollars.
