MH370: Contractor to be given 300 day deadline to find missing Malaysian plane

The Australian authorities will reportedly allocate no more than 300 days time to the chosen contractor to find the missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370.

According to CNN, the time frame for the sea floor search was included in documents released Wednesday by Australian authorities seeking bids from companies to carry out the next phase of the hunt for the passenger jet.

With the search for the ill-fated jet about to enter its third month, no trace of the missing plane has been found yet.

Earlier, the Australian government had declared that the missing Malaysia Airlines plane was not in the Indian Ocean search zone where underwater "pings" were detected.

The search authorities made the announcement after a US navy officer casted doubt on whether the signals were from the plane's black box flight recorder.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said that its search for the ill-fated plane in the target area was over, and added that the area can now be discounted as the final resting place of MH370.

Search authorities said that the joint agency co-ordination centre can advise that no signs of aircraft debris have been found by the autonomous underwater vehicle since it joined the search effort.