Truss says MH370 search area may be 'doubled' if plane not found in coming weeks

Deputy Prime Minister of Australia Warren Truss has declared that the search zone of missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean will be doubled if the plane is not found in the coming weeks.

About 60 percent of the 60,000 square kilometre area in the ocean, where the plane is believed to have crashed, has been combed. However, no trace of the plane, which vanished along with 239 people last year, has been found. Truss said that if the plane is not found by the time that search has been completed, it will be expanded to cover 120,000 sq km, reported News.com.au.

He remarked that it will cover the largest possible area identified by experts and added, if the aircraft was in the area that was being combed, it will be found.

Truss made the statements while addressing the press after a meeting with Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai and Chinese transport minister Yang Chuantang on Thursday.

He also said that those involved in the search operation were determined to do everything possible to "give answers to the families of the loves ones who've been lost."

The additional search phase is expected to take up to a year, given adverse weather conditions in the forthcoming winter months.

The news came after aviation analysts warned last month that Australia could withdraw from the hunt if it dragged on without success.