Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says a robotic submarine scanning the Indian Ocean floor for the missing Malaysian jetliner will finish its current search within a week.
Mr. Abbott told the Wall Street Journal if the so-called Bluefin-21 submarine does not find any wreckage by then, authorities will stop, regroup, and reconsider how to proceed.
The Australian agency coordinating the search said Thursday the vehicle completed its first full 16-hour mission after two previous missions were cut short because of technical problems.
The Bluefin-21 has so far searched 90 square kilometers of the ocean bed. But authorities say they have found "no significant detection" in the sonar data collected.
U.S. Navy officials had previously warned it could take up to two months for the submarine to scan the current 600-square kilometer search area.