MH370 The last search vessel looking for remains from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has set off from Western Australia, local media reported today.

The MV Fugro Equator left the port of Fremantle to conduct a final sweep of deep ocean ravines that might be the resting place of the Boeing 777 with 239 people on board that disappeared on March 8, 2014, the West Australian newspaper said.

It is the last ship still involved in the search after the Chinese vessel Dong Hai Jiu 101 recently headed home.

The Fugro Equator is equipped with an autonomous underwater vehicle that can dive six kilometres under the surface to explore deep canyons and trenches.

Around 200 deep trenches and canyons have not been investigated so far in the 120,000 square kilometre search zone.

If the MH370 is not found in one of these deep ocean trenches then the search will be called off in January or February, the newspaper said.

“It has been an heroic undertaking but we have to prepare ourselves for the prospect that we may not find MH370 in the coming weeks, although we remain hopeful,” Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester told the West Australian.

Debris from MH370 has so far washed up in Mozambique, Tanzania, Madagascar, Reunion Island and Mauritius. Some of the parts had burn marks.

Satellite data indicated the plane, which set off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, veered off course and flew south over the Indian Ocean for six hours before contact was lost.

- dpa