PERTH, Oct 6 — A ship equipped with specialised sonar technology has been deployed in the renewed search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

The search was on standby for about four months, while searchers mapped the part of the ocean where the plane was believed to have crashed.

The Australian vessel GO Phoenix began a 12-day search mission yesterday in the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,800 km off western Australia.

The vessel is deploying a sonar devices called a towfish over the search area, which can be up to 6.4 kilometres deep. The towfish has sensors that can detect traces of jet fuel.

Tritech, which makes the towfish, said it can scan 194 square kilometers a day, the Washington Post and AAP reported.

Later in October, two ships from a Dutch contractor, the Fugro Discovery and the Fugro Equator, will join the search. The operation could last a year.

According to the BBC, this renewed phase of the search has been jointly funded by Malaysia and Australia.

MH370, with 239 people on board, disappeared from radar on March 8 after radically veering off course. — Reuters