An escalated underwater search operation for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 will begin in two weeks' time, with both Malaysia and Australia committing 60 million dollars each towards the effort.

The announcement came at the joint press conference of visiting Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Tun Rajak, state-run Bernama news agency reported.

Both countries committed to give 60 million Australian Dollar each in their quest to locate the plane which is believed to have crashed in Southern Indian Ocean, it said. Abbott said the hunt for the plane, which inexplicably veered off its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route on March 8 with 239 people on board, would continue for as long as required.

The contribution was part of the new underwater search phase for the aircraft in the remote ocean sea bed, it said quoting premier Abbott. "It will utilise the best available technology. It will last as long as it needs to scour the seabed," Abbott said.