Sonarsub to search for jet

Perth: Australia decided on Monday to deploy a mini-submarine to scour the unmapped Indian Ocean seabed for Malaysian jet MH370 at a daunting depth of 4,500 metres (15,000 feet), ending the search for black-box signals.

Angus Houston, who heads the Joint Agency Coordination Centre, also revealed that an oil slick had been sighted in the area of the search led by the Australian vessel Oc-ean Shield far off Perth.

“Ocean Shield will cease searching with the towed pinger locator later today and deploy the autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin-21 as soon as possible,” Mr Houston said, adding it could enter the water later on Monday.

“We haven’t had a single detection in six days so I guess it’s time to go underwater,” he said.

“We anticipate deploying it this evening,” he told reporters.