MH370 mini-sub search of ocean zone will end within week: PM

PERTH: The mini-submarine hunting for flight MH370 will finish scouring its current strip of the Indian Ocean within a week, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said, adding that if unsuccessful the operation will be forced to move into a new phase.

Abbott told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that authorities will need to rethink their approach if the US Navy mini-submarine fails to find wreckage from the missing Malaysian jet in its current search zone, 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) off Perth.

"We believe that search will be completed within a week or so," Abbott told the US newspaper.

"If we don´t find wreckage, we stop, we regroup, we reconsider."

The unmanned Bluefin-21 submersible on Thursday completed its first full mission in the search zone, where underwater signals -- believed to be from the missing plane´s black box -- were detected earlier this month.

Data retrieved by the mini-submarine is being analysed.

Australian officials said the Bluefin had searched around approximately 90 square kilometres (35 square miles) so far.

The mini-sub´s first two attempts to scan the seabed for signs of the Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board, had to be cut short -- on Tuesday because the water was deeper than its 4,500-metre operating limits, and on Wednesday because of an unspecified technical problem.

"My determination for Australia is that we will do whatever we reasonably can to resolve the mystery," Abbott said.

"If the current search turns up nothing, we won´t abandon it, we will simply move to a different phase," he added, reiterating his confidence that searchers were looking in the right place.

The Bluefin´s aborted first two missions have raised the spectre of a prolonged, difficult search that may require even more sophisticated equipment to be deployed.

The US Navy has estimated it would take the sophisticated device "anywhere from six weeks to two months to scan the entire search area".

MH370 mini-sub search of ocean zone will end within week: PM

PERTH: The mini-submarine hunting for flight MH370 will finish scouring its current strip of the Indian Ocean within a week, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said, adding that if unsuccessful the operation will be forced to move into a new phase.

Abbott told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that authorities will need to rethink their approach if the US Navy mini-submarine fails to find wreckage from the missing Malaysian jet in its current search zone, 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) off Perth.

"We believe that search will be completed within a week or so," Abbott told the US newspaper.

"If we don´t find wreckage, we stop, we regroup, we reconsider."

The unmanned Bluefin-21 submersible on Thursday completed its first full mission in the search zone, where underwater signals -- believed to be from the missing plane´s black box -- were detected earlier this month.

Data retrieved by the mini-submarine is being analysed.

Australian officials said the Bluefin had searched around approximately 90 square kilometres (35 square miles) so far.

The mini-sub´s first two attempts to scan the seabed for signs of the Boeing 777, which vanished on March 8 with 239 people on board, had to be cut short -- on Tuesday because the water was deeper than its 4,500-metre operating limits, and on Wednesday because of an unspecified technical problem.

"My determination for Australia is that we will do whatever we reasonably can to resolve the mystery," Abbott said.

"If the current search turns up nothing, we won´t abandon it, we will simply move to a different phase," he added, reiterating his confidence that searchers were looking in the right place.

The Bluefin´s aborted first two missions have raised the spectre of a prolonged, difficult search that may require even more sophisticated equipment to be deployed.

The US Navy has estimated it would take the sophisticated device "anywhere from six weeks to two months to scan the entire search area".

Mini-sub on second mission after first MH370 search aborted

PERTH: A mini-sub searching for missing Flight MH370 was again sweeping the Indian Ocean seabed Wednesday after drawing a blank on a first mission aborted at daunting depths in a laborious operation that could take months.

The unmanned submarine equipped with sonar gear was deployed Tuesday night after data analysis of the first failed foray produced nothing of interest, Australia´s Joint Agency Coordination Centre said.

After more than three weeks of hunting for black box signals, the autonomous sub had been deployed for the first time on Monday night from the Australian ship Ocean Shield, which has spearheaded the hunt for the Boeing 777 that vanished on March 8 with 239 people aboard.

"The autonomous underwater vehicle was again deployed last night (Tuesday) from ADV (Australian Defence Vessel) Ocean Shield," JACC said.

"The data from Bluefin-21´s first mission has been downloaded and analysed. No objects of interest were found," JACC said.

The US navy explained that the Bluefin-21 had automatically aborted after six hours upon breaching its maximum operating depth.

JACC added that it had "exceeded its operating depth limit of 4,500 metres (15,000 feet) and its built-in safety feature returned it to the surface".

The sub was undamaged and had to be re-programmed, said US Navy Captain Mark Matthews.

"In this case the vehicle´s programmed to fly 30 metres over the floor of the ocean to get a good mapping of what´s beneath," he told CNN from Perth after the aborted dive.

"It went to 4,500 metres and once it hit that max depth, it said ´This is deeper than I´m programmed to be´, so it aborted the mission."