Search area for MH370 to double if wreckage not found

Kuala Lumpur

GOVERNMENT ministers from Australia, China and Malaysia on Thursday said they would double the search area for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 if wreckage is not found in the current target area.

No trace has been found of the Boeing 777 aircraft, which disappeared in March last year carrying 239 passengers and crew in what has become one of the biggest mysteries in aviation history. Most of the passengers were Chinese. The extended search for the jetliner, which is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean off Australia's west coast, could take up to a year, officials said at a meeting in Kuala Lumpur.