New evidence suggests that missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have been deliberately cut off from the rest of the world.

US officials said that because two separate communication systems were shut down separately, the plane did not suffer a catastrophic accident.

According to data obtained, the reporting system was shut down at 1.07am (Malaysia time) and the transponder at 1.21am.

This suggested that the shut down in communications was deliberate, ABC News aviation consultant John Nance said.

Another US official said that they may have an "indication" of where the missing flight may be located, and have switched focus to the Indian Ocean.

According to a report from ABC News, American military forces were moving the USS Kidd to the area to begin the search.

"We have an indication the plane went down in the Indian Ocean," the senior official was quoted as saying.

According to the unnamed official, there were signs the plane had flown four or five hours after it initially disappeared.

It is believed to be based on the plane "pinging" a satellite.

On modern aircraft, planes "ping" every hour in a system called Airplane Health Management.

However, it's unclear whether this would help pinpoint the location of the missing plane.

However, Malaysian officials moved to hose down that theory, saying that a report the plane had flown on for hours after losing contact was not correct.

They also believed satellite images of suspected debris from a missing jet were yet another false lead.

China had sparked talk of a breakthrough in the riddle of the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) jet with satellite images of three large floating objects near where flight MH370 with 239 people on board lost contact on Saturday, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.





But Vietnamese and Malaysian planes that searched the area in the South China Sea on Thursday found no sign of wreckage of the Boeing 777, which has one of the best safety records of any jet.

The US Navy Seventh Fleet also said that it did not have any evidence to corroborate the reports of debris spotted by the Chinese satellites.

Adding to the confusion, the Wall Street Journal reported that US investigators suspected the plane flew for four hours after its last known contact with air traffic control at 1:30 a.m. Malaysian time, based on data automatically sent from its Rolls-Royce engines.

The WSJ said US counterterrorism officials were probing the possibility that a pilot or someone else on board diverted the jet towards an unknown location after turning off its communication transponder.

But Malaysia denied the report as "inaccurate".

"The last (data) transmission from the aircraft was at 0107 hours which indicated that everything was normal," Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters.

"Rolls-Royce and Boeing teams are here in Kuala Lumpur and have worked with MAS and investigation teams since Sunday. These issues have never been raised."

He added that China had told Malaysia that the satellite photos posted on the website of a Chinese state science agency were released "by mistake and did not show any debris".

View photos

Major General Datuk Affendi Buang briefs the media during an update on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. Photo: Getty.





Every day like eternity

Authorities have chased up all manner of leads, including oil slicks, a supposed life raft found at sea and even witness accounts of a night-time explosion, only to rule them all out.

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