MH370 passengers, crew died of suffocation before jet crashed into Indian Ocean

A report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 says that passengers and crew aboard died of suffocation before autopilot crashed the jet into the Indian Ocean.

According to Daily Star, a 55-page report carried out by the Australian Transport Safety Board said investigators came to the conclusion after comparing the mystery of the flight to previous air disasters.

The report was compiled after analysing all the known conditions of the ill-fated flight including the lack of communications and its path.

The ATSB report stated that given these observations, the final stages of the unresponsive crew/hypoxia event type appeared to best fit the available evidence for the final period of MH370's flight when it was heading in a generally southerly direction.

Earlier, the Australian government announced a new underwater search zone for the missing Malaysia Airline flight MH370 following fresh analysis of satellite data.

Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said that the search would now shift south to focus on an area 1,800km (1,100 miles) off the west coast of Australia.

It is reported that investigators believe that the plane was on autopilot mode when it plunged into the sea.

Truss said that it was likely that the aircraft was on autopilot otherwise it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings.

The report further said that the Australian authorities released a 64-page report, concluding that the underwater search for the plane should resume in the new 60,000 sq km area.

The flight MH370, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 passengers onboard went missing on 8 March.