The search for the missing Malaysian passenger plane is to be widened to incorporate the Indian Ocean, according to officials from Washington.
Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said on Thursday that "new information" would likely lead the international search team beyond the current range of the operation.
"It's my understanding that based on some new information that's not necessarily conclusive - but new information - an additional search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean… and we are consulting with international partners about the appropriate assets to deploy."
Jay Carney said 'new information' had come to light
Carney added, "We're working with the Malaysian government to try to find the plane; find out what happened to it for the sake of the families and, obviously, for the sake of knowing what caused the plane to disappear."
The US currently has several navy vessels deployed in the search effort, with the USS Kidd destroyer heading to the Strait of Malacca to help find the aircraft, which disappeared on Saturday evening after taking off from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing with 239 people on board.
Carney said: "There are a number of possible scenarios that are being investigated as to what happened to the flight. And we are not in a position at this time to make conclusions about what happened, unfortunately. But we're actively participating in the search," Carney told a regular news briefing.
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