Australia vows to press ahead with MH370 search

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Monday that there is no time limit yet to stop searching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.[Special coverage]

Speaking at a press conference here in the Pearce air force base, he pledged to get to the bottom of the MH370 mystery, saying that if it is solvable "we will solve it."

Australia is working with all available resources on all possible leads in the search, said Abbott, adding that the country has brought "the best brains" to the mission.

David Johnston, Australia's defense minister, said there are 100 people in the air and 1,000 at sea scouring the new search area in the southern Indian Ocean.

Morale is high, Abbott told reporters, adding that the magnitude of the search "is increasing, not decreasing."

The whereabouts of the missing Boeing 777 jet remain unknown despite the massive multinational search that has been under way since the plane mysteriously disappeared early March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Among the 239 people on board, 154 are Chinese.