Missing Flight MH370: Officials say they have been searching in the WRONG PLACE for two years

Investigators searching for the missing MH370 flight have concluded that the crash site may actually be north of the area they have been focusing on for the past two years.

A report by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) states that the vanished Boeing 777 is highly unlikely to be in the current search zone.

Since the plane disappeared, experts have analysed a series of exchanges between the aircraft and a satellite to estimate a probable crash site along a vast arc of ocean in the southern hemisphere.

However, a deep-sea search of a 46,000 square mile (120,000 sq km) stretch of water along the arc has so far drawn a blank and investigators want to extend the hunt to the north.

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The report stated: “The participants of the First Principles Review were in agreement on the need to search an additional area representing approximately 25,000 square-kilometres [9,653 square-miles].

“Based on the analysis to date, completion of this area would exhaust all prospective areas for the presence of MH370.”

It added: “The experts concluded that, if this area were to be searched, prospective areas for locating the aircraft wreckage, based on all the analysis to date, would be exhausted.”

However, a new search would require fresh funding and the countries involved – Malaysia, Australia and China – agreed in July that the £129 million search will be suspended once the current effort is exhausted unless new evidence pinpoints the plane’s exact location.

Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester suggested an extension was unlikely, noting that the latest report does not give a specific location of the plane.

He said: ”The search for MH370 has been the largest in aviation history and has tested the limits of technology, and the capacity of our experts and people at sea.”

However, Australian government oceanographer David Griffin, who worked on the analysis of how the debris drifted, said he is confident the plane is in the newly identified search area.

He added: “It could have been where we were searching, absolutely, but the new information does clarify that immediately north is more likely.”

The Malaysia Airlines aircraft, that was carrying 239 passengers and crew, disappeared in March 2014 during a routine flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Top pic: PA