New MH370 search area announced
A new search area for the missing Malaysian plane has been announced by the Malaysian government after further analysis of satellite data.
The search will now shift south to focus on an area 1,800km (1,100 miles) off the west coast of Australia, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss confirmed.
Officials: Flight MH370 was flying on auto-pilot before vanishing http://t.co/pzG94EWUvW
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) June 26, 2014
Flight MH370 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March with 239 passengers on board.
Officials said they believed the plane had been on autopilot when it crashed.
An extensive search of the ocean floor conducted after a series of acoustic pings, thought to be from the plane's flight data recorders, were failed to find any trace of the plane.
Relatives of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 cry as they gather at the Lama Temple in Beijing on June 15
MH370: 'Highly likely' autopilot engaged when flight went down, says Australian DPM http://t.co/wlU4YkWRYm
— The Star (@staronline) June 26, 2014
Relatives of Chinese passengers met in Beijing earlier this month to pray for the plane's discovery
Many of the relatives of the missing passengers have been frustrated by the lack of progress in the search.
"It is highly, highly likely that the aircraft was on autopilot otherwise it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings," Truss said.
A 64-page report released by the Australian government concluded that the underwater search for the plane should resume in the new area.
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