Ocean Infinity, the next generation seabed survey and ocean exploration company announced on Sunday (Dec30) that the Company will be working with the Government of South Korea in the search for the wreckage of the ship Stellar Daisy, which was lost on 31 March 2017.
The vessel was lost in the South Atlantic Ocean approximately 2500 nautical miles due east of Uruguay with 24 people on board, whilst transporting iron ore from Brazil to China.
Operations are expected to commence in January 2019. Ocean Infinity will use its’ proven approach of deploying a fleet of Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUVs) simultaneously to search for Stellar Daisy. Upon locating the wreck there will be an extensive survey carried out using the latest 3D imaging technology.
Ocean Infinity’s AUVs are the most technologically advanced in the world. They are capable of operating in water depths from 5 meters to 6,000 meters. The AUVs are not tethered to the vessel during operations, allowing them to go deeper and collect higher quality data for the search. They are equipped with a side scan sonar, a multi-beam echo-sounder, a sub-bottom profiler, an HD camera, a conductivity / temperature / depth sensor, a self-compensating magnetometer, a synthetic aperture sonar and a turbidity sensor.
Oliver Plunkett, Ocean Infinity’s CEO, said: “For the sake of all involved we sincerely hope that we can find Stellar Daisy and be able to collect as much evidence about her loss as we can. As always with deep sea search there can be no guarantee of success as neither the precise location nor the specific circumstances of her loss are known. We are grateful that the Government of South Korea awarded us the contract for this challenging project and affirmed Ocean Infinity’s position as the leading deep-sea search and recovery services provider in the world.”
Source: Ocean Infinity