By Bruce Whitehead BBC correspondent

A mini submarine may search the Arctic waters

The fisheries minister said he would personally bring pressure for a search as soon as possible, after a chart was found earlier this year which could mark the position of the aircraft.

A slab of driftwood and a fisherman's chart may be the crucial pieces of evidence which finally help to put to rest the mystery of what happened to Amundsen - who beat the British explorer Captain Robert Scott in a race to the South Pole in 1911.

Amundsen went missing in June 1928 while searching for a fellow explorer, an Italian member of an airship crew which had itself disappeared in the Arctic.

His French-built seaplane is believed to have crashed near Bear Island in about 100 metres (yards) of water.

Fishing boat clue

Earlier this year, a chart was discovered from a Norwegian fishing boat, marking the spot where in 1933 it had snared a three metre object - possibly from the plane's wing.

Tantalisingly, the object slipped away and disappeared into the sea.

Amundsen beat Scott to the South Pole

Recently, a retired Norwegian seal-hunter recalled how he had used a piece of driftwood - which could have been part of the plane - in 1964 to repair a hut on a remote island, 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) from the North Pole.

Torbjoern Pedersen has only now made the link with Amundsen.

Now the Norwegian Fisheries Minister Svein Ludvigsen, says Norway has a national responsibility to discover the fate of one of its famous sons.

He said he would personally bring pressure to carry out a search with a mini submarine as soon as possible.