Scientists say that missing flight MH370 is “likely” to be located north of an earlier search zone in the southern Indian Ocean.
The Malaysia Airlines flight with 239 people onboard disappeared on March 8, 2014 as it was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Although the official search for the aircraft was called off in January, Australian scientists have now carried out analysis of a wing part, known as a flaperon, that washed up ashore on the Indian Ocean island of Reunion in 2015.
This suggests that the missing Boeing 777 could be located in a 25,000 square kilometre area north of a previous search area.
The scientists carried out the analysis using “drift modelling work” on a real Boeing 777 flaperon for the first time.
Dr David Griffin, of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, added: “The arrival of MH370’s flaperon at La Reunion in July 2015 now makes perfect sense.”