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A Pentagon official is reported to have said that it has information that missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went down in the India Ocean.

As a result USS Kidd was reported to have been dispatched to the area and will reach there from its current search location in the next 24 hours.

The alleged change in position of the warship follows reports from the U.S. earlier today that the plane may have continued flying for another four or five hours after disappearing from air traffic control radars.

The Pentagon official told ABC News reporter Martha Raddatz: "We have an indication the plane went down in the Indian Ocean."

Click here for live updates on the search for the missing plane

The Guardian newspaper later reported that a Pentagon spokesman did not know where the information had come from and the USS Kidd was on its way to Malacca Strait.

The news also contradicts acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein who earlier said that the main focus of the search would be on the South China Sea to the east of Malaysia.

The CEO of Malaysia Airlines also denied reports that the plane had continued to fly for several hours.

The Indian Ocean is to the west and covers a vast area.

Officially the search area is 38,000 square miles, roughly an area the size of the UK, and covers the Strait of Malacca as well as the South China Sea.

The plane went down in the early hours of Saturday morning and the last definite contact with the plane was at 01:07 local time with 239 people on board.

At least 12 countries are now involved in the search with dozens of aircraft and sea vessels now involved in the search.