MH370 search zone may double: Report

The search area for flight MH370 will double in size to encompass a vast Indian Ocean corridor if wreckage remains elusive, Malaysia, Australia and China said Thursday, asserting their commitment to finding the plane.

Meeting in Kuala Lumpur, ministers from the three countries said the deep-sea zone now being scanned for signs of the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines jet would be expanded to 120,000 square kilometres if the current area comes up empty.

"If the aircraft is not found within the current 60,000-square-kilometre search area, we have collectively decided to extend the search by an additional 60,000 square kilometres within the highest-probability area," Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai said.

He spoke at a press briefing following a meeting with Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss and China's Minister of Transport Yang Chuantang.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 with 239 passengers and crew aboard mysteriously veered off its route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014, creating one of the world's greatest aviation mysteries and sparking a massive international effort to find it.

The cause of the diversion remains unknown. Theories range from rogue pilot action, catastrophic mechanical problems, or a hijacking.