Search for MH370 uncovers 1800s shipwreck underneath Indian Ocean

CANBERRA, Australia, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The Australian Transport Safety Bureau on Wednesday said investigators have found a shipwreck from the 1800s at the bottom of the Indian Ocean while searching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau details that on Dec. 19 surveyors received an anomalous contact via sonar, which analysis suggested was an object likely to be man-made underneath the ocean.

Australia has been leading the search for MH370 at the request of the Malaysian government. Fugro, a Dutch company that provides deep-sea surveys, later received a contract to join the search. Aboard Fugro's Havila Harmony vessel is the Echo Surveyor VII autonomous underwater vehicle.

"Havila Harmony was tasked with further examination of the contact using the AUV," the ATSB wrote in a statement. "On Jan. 2, the AUV captured high-resolution sonar imagery of the contact, confirming that it was indeed the wreck of a ship."

The Boeing 777 disappeared March 8, 2014, after leaving Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, en route to Beijing with 239 people on board. During the flight, the plane veered off course over the Indian Ocean between Malaysia and Vietnam. Investigators are unsure why the plane went off route.