A mini-submarine searching for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 has completed its first mission under the waters of the southern Indian Ocean at the third attempt.

Technical problems saw the first two missions cut short.

Nothing significant has been found so far as the data from the mission is analysed.

Some 239 people were on board the flight when it disappeared on route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8th.

An exhaustive search for the plane has so far proved fruitless. 

The submarine is the latest technology to be deployed after satellite imagery and tracking narrowed the search area.

Acoustic signals, possibly from the plane’s black box recorders, have also been heard by naval vessels searching the same area.

The Bluefin-21, operated by the US Navy off the Australian vessel Ocean Shield, is an autonomous underwater vehicle that can identify objects by creating a sonar map of the sea floor.

“Overnight Bluefin-21 AUV completed a full mission in the search area and is currently planning for its next mission,” the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre said in a statement.

“Bluefin-21 has searched approximately 90 square kilometres to date and the data from its latest mission is being analysed.”

Officials have warned that the search for wreckage on the sea floor could take weeks or months.