Australia says hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will move south

Australian officials have reportedly said that the next phase of the hunt for missing Malaysian flight MH370 will move hundreds of miles south.

According to the BBC, Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) chief Martin Dolan said that the search areas would focus on an area 1,800km (1,100 miles) off the city of Perth.

The MH370 flight went missing while traveling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March with 239 passengers on board.

Earlier, the Australian government had declared that the missing Malaysia Airlines plane was not in the Indian Ocean search zone where underwater "pings" were detected.

Australian search authorities made the announcement after a US navy officer casted doubt on whether the signals were from a plane's black box flight recorder.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said that its search for the ill-fated plane in the target area was over, and added that the area can now be discounted as the final resting place of MH370.

Australian government had previously said that pings detected in the Indian Ocean, during the search for the wreckage of missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370, were not from the plane's black box recorder.