Australia announces new search area for MH370

Australia announces on Thursday a new area for the search of missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. [Special coverage]

The new area, covering about 60,000 square kilometers, will be to the south of the area previously searched, according to Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss.

Truss and Chief Commissioner for Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) Martin Dolan held a press conference here at the Parliament House to make the announcement.

The Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC) for the search of the MH370 said in a statement that the area "represents the highest priority for future search efforts."

"An expert satellite working group has reviewed all existing information in order to define a search zone of up to 60,000 square kilometers along the arc in the southern Indian Ocean," said the statement.

"Specialists have analyzed satellite communications information -- information which was never initially intended to have the capability to track an aircraft -- and performed extremely complex calculations," Truss said.

The new area is still along the seventh arc, where the aircraft last communicated with satellite. "We are now shifting our attention to an area further south along the arc based on these calculations," he said.

(Updated at 15:30)

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