Two new reports by authorities investigating the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have narrowed down to precise co-ordinates what could be the crash site of the missing plane.
The analysis, released by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau on Wednesday, looked at a number of objects seen floating in the Indian Ocean in the weeks following the plane's disappearance, and traced their likely origin.
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Search for MH370 ends
The mission to find the main wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has officially been called off. Vision: Seven News
Geoscience Australia examined four satellite images, sourced from French authorities, containing 70 objects floating in the water on March 23, 2014 - two weeks after the aircraft vanished. It declared 12 of the objects to be "probably man-made", though could not determine if they were aircraft debris.
The CSIRO then performed a drift analysis and concluded they most likely originated from a zone in the south-eastern quadrant of an area just to the north of the previous search zone which experts now consider the plane's most likely location. It also provided precise coordinates of the zone: 35.6°S, 92.8°E, a location consistent with evidence from earlier investigations.
Although there was no way to confirm these objects belonged to MH370, their size and location near the plane's predicted path made them "impossible to ignore", the CSIRO said.
However, Transport Minister Darren Chester indicated there was no plan to reopen the search for the missing jet, which was suspended in January after failing to find the plane in the 120,000 square kilometre area originally favoured by experts.
"I welcome the CSIRO and Geoscience reports but it is important to note that it does not provide new evidence leading to a specific location of MH370," Mr Chester said.
"Malaysia is the lead investigator and any future requests in relation to searching for MH370 would be considered by Australia, at that time.
"As always, my thoughts are with the family and friends of the passengers and crew."
Mr Chester has previously said the search, which cost Australian taxpayers more than $160 million, would not be reopened unless compelling new evidence came to light.
ATSB chief commissioner Greg Hood said on Wednesday the new analysis should be treated with caution but could still be useful in defining a renewed search area.
"Clearly we must be cautious. These objects have not been definitely identified as MH370 debris," he said.
"The information contained within the Geoscience Australia and CSIRO reports may be useful in informing any further search effort that may be mounted in the future."
In December, just before the search was suspended, experts proposed searching a 25,000 square kilometre area immediately to the north of the exhausted search zone. That was ultimately rejected by Australia, Malaysia and China, angering families of the 239 victims.
However, the "east1" search area pinpointed by the CSIRO in its new report was about 5000 square kilometres and could be searched more quickly.
Last week the Associated Press reported a US seabed exploration company, Ocean Infinity, had offered to assume the financial risk for a renewed search effort, and appealed to the Malaysian government to accept its offer.
The Voice370 support group for victims' families said Ocean Infinity "would like to be paid a reward if and only if it finds the main debris field", AP reported.
The Boeing 777 disappeared in the early hours of March 8, 2014, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It is known to have diverted from its flight path over the South China Sea before ending up on an arc toward the southern Indian Ocean, but mystery surrounds the events on board, including possible sabotage.