Perth: A mini-submarine deployed to find the crashed Malaysian jet's wreckage has finally completed a full 16-hour mission in its third attempt, even as Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott today said the underwater search may end in about a week and move to a "different phase".

Two previous missions by autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin 21, a US Navy probe equipped with side-scan sonar, to map the Indian Ocean seabed were cut short by technical problems and deep waters 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. Bluefin-21 has searched approximately 90 square kilometres to date and the data from its latest mission is being analysed,"