KUALA LUMPUR— Malaysia's prime minister said Sunday his nation remains committed to the so-far fruitless hunt for flight MH370 exactly one year after it went missing, and is hopeful the plane will be found.

Najib Razak's comments came as Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the search in the southern Indian Ocean, which is being led by his country, could be widened if the current probe is unsuccessful.

"Together with our international partners, we have followed the little evidence that exists. Malaysia remains committed to the search, and hopeful that MH370 will be found," Najib Razak said in a statement to mark the anniversary of the plane's disappearance.

The year-long hunt in the deep ocean at least 1,600 kilometres (1,000 miles) off Australia's west coast where the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 is believed to have crashed has so far yielded no sign of the plane.

An independent team of investigators tasked with probing the mystery is to release an interim report on its findings on Sunday at 3.00 pm (0700 GMT) in Kuala Lumpur, the government said.

It remains unclear whether it will contain any new information on what might have caused the aircraft to disappear after veering from its Kuala Lumpur-Beijing route on March 8 of last year with 239 passengers and crew aboard.

"No words can describe the pain the families of those on board are going through," Najib said, calling the plane's disappearance "without precedent".

"The lack of answers and definitive proof -- such as aircraft wreckage -- has made this more difficult to bear."

Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told relatives of the crew on the flight that the carrier's management shares their ongoing grief.

"We remain hopeful that the search will help us find the answers that we all seek," Ahmad Jauhari told staff at a remembrance ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.

"Until then, as a family, we will continue to support to each other." — AFP