No hope for MH370 on ocean surface: Tony Abbott

, April 28: In a press meet on Monday, the Australian Prime Minister

said that it was highly unlikely to find any wreckage of the Malaysian Airline on the ocean bed.

He said this, even when he announced a more intensive underwater search expanding to new areas that may take up 8 months.

Describing the hunt as the most difficult search in human history, he said that the search for the plane will enter a new phase that will also use private contractors and may cost USD 60 million.

He said, in clear terms, "I regret to say that thus far none of our efforts in the air, on the surface or under sea, have found any wreckage. By this stage, 52 days into the search, most material would have become water-logged and sunk."

He further added,"The new phase will focus on searching the ocean floor over a much larger area - 60,000 square kilometers, a process that will take about six to eight months."

However, he confirmed that the search is certainly not ending.

The Malaysian Airline MH 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur a little after 12 am, but went missing from radars after 40 minutes into the flight. Since then, it is untraceable with 239 people including the crew members.

According to the Perth-based Joint Agency Coordination Centre, 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.

A few days ago, electronic transmission from the blackbox were detected from the ocean bed, but could not be traced.

OneIndia News