TheCable

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday that airborne search for surface wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has been called off.

He said in Sydney that it was highly unlikely that searchers would find any debris on the ocean surface.

Abbott said this became imperative because the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 has entered its 52nd day without any result.

“None of our efforts have found any wreckage,” he said.

The Prime Minister said, however, that the underwater search for flight MH370 would continue.