MH370 may not be found on ocean surface: Abbott

The Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flight MH370 - carrying 239 people, including five Indians, an Indo-Canadian and 154 Chinese nationals - had mysteriously vanished on March 8 after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. 

The mystery of the missing plane continued to baffle aviation and security authorities who have so far not succeeded in tracking the aircraft despite deploying hi-tech radar and other gadgets.

Meanwhile, a remote-controlled mini-submarine deployed in the southern Indian Ocean to find the missing plane today launched its 16th mission with still no sign of wreckage. 

Autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin 21, a US Navy probe equipped with side-scan sonar which is scouring the ocean floor for traces of the plane, has completed mission 15 and was now on its next mission 16, the Perth-based Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JAAC) said in a statement. 

Bluefin 21 has focused the search on an area in the southern Indian Ocean where four acoustic signals were detected that led authorities to believe that the plane's black box may be located there.

Search coordinator Air Chief Marshal (retd.) Angus Houston said he is confident searchers are looking in the “right area”, but admitted there could be months of searching ahead using new side scanner sonar equipment. 

“It will take time,” he added.