MH370 Royal Malaysian Navy (TLDM) vessel Bunga Mas 6 ( BM6 ) which was involved in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean, returned safely to the naval base in Lumut.

TLDM fleet commander Vice-Admiral Mohamad Roslan Ramli was at hand to receive the crew at the TLDM Base in Lumut at 9am today.

BM6 commanding officer, Commander J Kuharaj, said the vast ocean, its depth, uncertain weather, monstrous waves were among the major challenges faced by everyone involved in the search.

“The crew and I knew the challenges that we will be facing. So, we had to go through such obstacles because our main concern was to find the missing flight MH370,” he told reporters in Lumut today.

BM6 has Commander Kuharaj as its commanding officer and a crew of 25 comprising personnel of the Malaysian International Shipping (MISC) absorbed into the RMN Volunteer Reserve Force.

A medical officer from the army was also included in the aid mission.

The BM6 was the eighth vessel involved in a multinational search for the missing flight.

Flight MH370 with 239 people aboard left the KL International Airport at 12.41am on March 8 and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later, while over the South China Sea. It was to have arrived in Beijing at 6.30am on the same day.

A multinational search was mounted for the aircraft, first in the South China Sea and later expanded to the Malacca Strait and Andaman Sea before shifting to the southern Indian Ocean.

Analysis of satellite data indicated that the Boeing 777-200 plane flew along what is called the ‘southern corridor’ and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak announced on March 24, 17 days after the disappearance of the aircraft, that Flight MH370 “ended in the southern Indian Ocean”.

- Bernama