Malaysian officials have admitted for the first time that one of the MH370 pilots had plotted a course on his home flight simulator the Southern Indian Ocean, where the missing jet is believed to have crashed.

Last month Australian investigators overseeing the search for the plane said data recovered from Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah's simulator included a flight path to the Southern Indian Ocean.

Up until now Malaysian officials had refused to confirm the findings.

Australian authorities confirmed data recovered from a flight simulator owned by MH370 captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah appears to show 'someone' used it to plot a course similar to that followed by the plane before it vanished over the Indian Ocean

However, Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai told local journalists that the flight path was found on the simulator.

But he added that there were 'thousand' of destinations on the simulator and no evidence that Zaharie flew the plane in that area or deliberately crashed it.

He said: 'Until today, this theory is still under investigation. There is no evidence to prove that Captain Zaharie flew the plane into the southern Indian Ocean.

'Yes, there is the simulator but the (route) was one of thousands to many parts of the world. We cannot just base on that to confirm (he did it).'

Liow didn't say when the Indian Ocean path was flown on the simulator. He stressed that international experts and Australian officials have agreed that the most likely scenario was 'uncontrolled ditching' of the plane.

There has been confusion over what exactly was found on the captain's flight simulator since New York Magazine reported last week that an FBI analysis of the device showed Mr Shah had conducted a simulated flight to the southern Indian Ocean less than a month before the plane vanished along a similar route.

The simulated flight path that was allegedly practised by Mr Shah was similar to the one the plane is believed to have followed before it disappeared

A family member of a passenger aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 holds a placard saying: 'The three governments have an obligation to the world to carry out their promise'

A man surnamed Lee whose said his son was aboard the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that went missing wears a t-shirt saying: 'Pray for MH370. Bring them home safely'

Relatives of Chinese passengers onboard MH370 protested at the Chinese Foreign Ministry after a Ministerial Tripartite Meeting involving China, Malaysia and Australia

Zhang Huijun, one of the relatives of passengers missing on Malaysia Airlines MH370, performs kowtow to appeal for help during a protest outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing

The magazine cited the discovery as strong evidence that the disappearance was a premeditated act of mass murder-suicide at the hands of the captain.

Before the flight vanished it is understood Mr Shah had been distracted and withdrawn as he dealt with the break-up of his marriage.

Speaking in 2014 about the mystery, the wife and daughter of Mr Shah said the 53-year-old pilot had been desolate in the weeks before the aircraft's disappearance – and refused pleas to attend marriage counselling sessions.

WING PART FOUND IN TANZANIA 'HIGHLY LIKELY' TO BE FROM MH370 Australian officials are now reasonably convinced that a wing part found on the shores of Tanzania earlier this year is from the missing MH370 - and from it vital clues might now be gleaned. Greg Hood, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau which has had experts examining the large wing part, said today that it was clear it was from a Boeing 777, leaving experts to declare it was 'highly likely' to have come from the Malaysia Airlines jet. Experts now hope to determine how MH370 hit the water in an area believed to be in the southern Indian Ocean 1,600 miles south west of Australia. They will examine whether the jet had the wing flap down for a controlled landing on water or whether it had not been deployed, suggesting the plane came down in a dive. If the flap - the largest piece of debris found among other pieces said to be 'highly likely' from the missing jet - shows signs of being torn off, it suggests it had been deployed, say officials. And that, they say, possibly means that someone was in control of the aircraft at the time it hit the water. The ATSB has been working on a theory that the jet ran out of fuel and then plunged into the sea, but other experts say it couild have been manually glided into the ocean to minimise damage and make it harder to find. 'We've got no evidence either way to say there was somebody at the controls,' said Commissioner Hood. Questions are now arising about the official search area, with oceanographers saying the discovery of the item in Tanzania is a further indication that the plane came down north of the current search zone. Mr Chester, however, said last night that he remained hopeful 'that the aircraft will be located in the remaining search area.' Virtually all of the 120,000 square kilometer search area has been covered with no sign of the main part of the aircraft. But pieces that experts believe are from the jet have washed ashore off the east coast of Africa and nearby islands. Advertisement

Three weeks after they split the plane went missing, with some investigators suggesting it was a deliberate and desperate ploy by Mr Shah.

Police Chief Bakar said the Malaysian police had never handed any document or information to any overseas authority, including the FBI.

However, Malaysia's own transport minister confirmed two years ago that Malaysia was working with the FBI to analyse data from the simulator's hard drives.

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will be 'suspended' if the plane is not found in the current search area, a statement issued to the next of kin said

Malaysia's national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said investigations will not be conclusive until the black boxes - the cockpit voice recorder and a data recorder - are recovered

A map showing where investigators have been searching for the plane for the last two years. It is believed it could be the wrong place and officials are yet to pinpoint a new area

WASHED UP DEBRIS: THE SEARCH FOR MISSING MH370 The first piece of debris believed to have come from MH370 was discovered last July on a beach on Reunion Island in the Indian Ocean. Experts believed that the debris was one of the plane's flaperon and that other debris that washed up on the shore was suitcase items from China and Indonesia. Later that year in December a grey piece of debris was found in southern Mozambique thought to belong to the aircraft. Two months later an object with the words 'no step' then washed up off the coast of the African country. Then in March this year, an engine part was found in South Africa while in Apirl the segment of a flap track fairing and part of a horizontal stabiliser were found off Mozambique. Officials say it was almost certainly from MH370. Meanwhile on Monday, investigators in Australia on said they were examining a wing flap found last month on an East African island The 'large piece of aircraft debris' arrived at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau headquarters in the capital, Canberra, for examination. Advertisement

Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai insisted on Wednesday there was no evidence to prove that Mr Shah had plotted the same course as the doomed airliner into the machine.

Earlier this week, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declined to offer any details on what evidence had been found on the simulator, saying it was a matter for Malaysia, which is leading the investigation into the missing plane.

'I just note that even if the simulator information does show that it is possible or very likely that the captain planned this shocking event, it does not tell us the location of the aircraft,' Turnbull told reporters.

Officials have been hindered in their efforts to explain why the Boeing 777 carrying 239 people veered so far off course during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Police carry a piece of debris from an unidentified aircraft found in the coastal area of Saint-Andre de la Reunion, in the east of the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion

Reports of the discovery, that appears to indicate the captain practised crashing the plane, emerged in confidential police documents last week

Theories have ranged from a deliberate murder-suicide plot by one of the pilots, to a hijacking, to a mechanical catastrophe.

Similarly, search crews have been unable to find the main wreckage of the plane despite a sweeping underwater hunt of a remote stretch of ocean off Australia's west coast.

Last week, officials from Malaysia, Australia and China announced that the underwater search will be suspended once the current search area has been completely scoured.