Perth: A mini-submarine deployed to locate the missing Malaysian plane's wreckage on the floor of the Indian Ocean has completed a full 16-hour mission mission at its third attempt, authorities said today. Two previous missions by autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin 21, a US Navy probe equipped with side-scan sonar, to map the ocean floor were cut short by technical problems and deep water, without making any "significant" detections.

"Overnight Bluefin-21 AUV completed a full mission in the search area and is currently planning for its next mission," according to Joint Agency Coordinating Centre (JACC) set up by the Australian government to coordinate the search operations. It said Bluefin-21 has searched approximately 90 square kilometres to date and the data from its latest mission is being analyzed. Bluefin 21 is searching in an area defined by four acoustic signals picked up by an Australian search team.