Missing Malaysia aircraft search area widened to Indian Ocean

The international search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane is set to widen into the Indian Ocean, almost seven days after it vanished on Saturday.

The search has been littered by false leads and reports but authorities have admitted that had not excluded any possibilities.

The aircraft, with 239 people on board, disappeared from civilian radar at 1.30am as it crossed the Gulf of Thailand from Malaysia. 153 of the passengers were Chinese.

With US warships already deployed at Malaysian instruction in the Strait of Malacca, west of the Malay peninsula, the White House said the search could move into the Indian Ocean after new "possible pieces of information".

According to a report, a Pentagon official said there was an “indication” that the plane may have crashed into the Indian Ocean.

The area being intensively searched extended further west on Thursday to cover an area of 38,500 square miles, underscoring the possibility that the Boeing 777 flew for hours after disappearing off the radar on Saturday morning.

The plane last transmitted radar at 1.30am. Malaysian authorities have also stated that the plane was again caught on radar at 2.30am (later denied), and on military radar at 2.15am near the Malacca strait, indicating that it had turned back from its flight path to Beijing.

A report has claimed that communications satellites picked up faint electronic pulses from the plane after it went missing, but the signals gave no indication where the jet was heading nor its technical condition. It also said one engine maintenance update was received during the flight.

The Wall Street Journal reported that the aircraft remained airborne for hours after its disappearance from radars.

Reports that more data had been transmitted by the plane after it went missing have been refuted by Malaysian authorities, adding that the final information received from the plane’s engines indicated that everything was operating normally.

Meanwhile, China’s premier Li Keqiang pledged to continue search efforts for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight "as long as there is a glimmer of hope".

China had eight ships taking part in the search efforts, with a ninth on its way, and had deployed 10 satellites, he said.

There was still no confirmed sighting of wreckage from the Boeing 777 in the seas between Malaysia and Vietnam where it vanished from screens early Saturday morning en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

The flight was carrying 152 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians and seven Australians among the 227 passengers, the airline said on Saturday. An additional 12 crew members were on board. There were also three US citizens, three from France, two passengers each from New Zealand, Ukraine, and Canada, and one each from Italy, Taiwan, the Netherlands and Austria, the airline said.