Dutch firm to help find MH370

Dutch firm Fugro has been hired by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) to assist in locating missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370. The plane has been lost, and feared crashed into the Indian Ocean, since it took off from Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014.

ATSB hired Fugro for their proficiency in oceanography and specialized ship and equipment, the company announced on Tuesday. Their 67-meter-long survey vessel, Fugro Equator, will be used to conduct surveys of the depth of the ocean in the current search area for the missing Boeing 777. "The seabed data obtained will assist in the production of maps of the seabed offshore Western Australia. This area is relatively uncharted and the maps will assist in planning subsequent stages of the MH370 search," the company said in a press release. "Fugro and ATSB expect the Fugro Equator to begin its operation by mid-June." Radio signals similar to those broadcast by the airplane's two black box flight recorders were last heard in open water west of Australia. The flight was supposed to land in Beijing, China, but is believed to have been flown off course, turning west off the Gulf of Thailand, and then south towards the Indian Ocean. Fugro is based in Leidschendam, Zuid Holland.