Story highlights New search area recommended after experts agree MH370 not in current zone

Search was originally intended to finish in January or February 2017

(CNN) Teams searching for missing aircraft Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have very likely been looking in the wrong place, a new Australian government report confirmed.

"Given the high confidence in the search undertaken to date, the experts agreed that the previously defined (search) area is unlikely to contain the missing aircraft," a spokesman for the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said in a statement.

The report recommended that, based on new analysis, a new area to the northeast of the current search area should be searched, approximately 25,000 square kilometers.

However, Australian Infrastructure and Transport Minister Darren Chester said the search would not be extended without new evidence.

"The information in the ATSB report ... does not give a specific location of the missing aircraft," he said. "We are very close to completing the 120,000 square kilometer underwater search area, and we remain hopeful that we will locate the aircraft."