He was speaking as weather conditions in the southern Indian Ocean improved, allowing the search to resume.

 

The Australian Maritime¹ Safety Authority (Amsa) says 12 aircraft are taking part in Wednesday's operations.

 

The plane vanished on 8 March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.

 

"We owe it to the families, we owe it to an anxious world to do everything we can to finally locate some wreckage² and to do whatever we can to solve the riddle³ of this extraordinarily⁴ ill-fated flight," Mr Abbott said.

 

He also said Australia was ready to assist the families of the missing passengers in any possible way. 

 

"There's a terrible trauma⁵ involved - there's the uncertainty⁶, there's the anguish⁷. It's just an unspeakable time for these people and if they want to come to Australia we'll make them welcome and we'll do everything we can to assist," he said.

 

China has sent a special envoy⁸, Zhang Yesui, to Malaysia, the official Xinhua news agency reports.

 

Mr Zhang met Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak to discuss the search, and will go on to meet Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's acting⁹ transport minister.

 

Four Chinese ships and one military aircraft are taking part in the operation in the southern Indian Ocean. Most of the, whose passengers were mostly Chinese.

 

Australia has been co-ordinating the multinational¹⁰ search that is now focused on a remote area of ocean some 1,500 miles (2,500km) to the south-west of the Australian city of Perth.

 

The Australian parliament in the capital, Canberra, observed a moment of silence on Wednesday for passengers of the missing flight, which included six Australians.

 

Some relatives of the passengers are refusing to accept their loved ones have died, saying no wreckage has been found.

 

There were angry scenes in Beijing after the Malaysian prime minister said analysis of satellite data showed the plane had almost certainly ended its journey in the southern Indian Ocean.

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