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The US has sent surveillance teams to the Indian Ocean to help search for the missing Malaysian plane, after claims emerged that it may have flown for longer than investigators had thought.
Unnamed officials said the plane sent signals to satellites for up to five hours after its apparent disappearance.
However, investigators said the data were not conclusive and Malaysia refused to comment on the claims.
Flight MH370 vanished last Saturday with 239 people on board.
This story is a mystery for sure, but information is now starting to emerge that allows us to join some of the dots.
We know the aeroplane was fitted with a satellite system that enabled it to pass information to the ground during flight. It is my understanding that this system, operated by London's big satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat, received an automated signal from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 at least five hours after the plane was reported lost.
There is no way that signal could have been sent unless the plane was intact and powered. These types of satellite systems can pass a range of data, even voice calls.
But even if the last communication was a simple, automated ping carrying no real information, its receipt alone should make it possible to work out an approximate position for the aircraft at the time of that last signal. This may well explain why the US has now sent search teams to the Indian Ocean.
The plane, which was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, last made contact with air traffic control over the South China Sea to the east of Malaysia.
But several US media reports on Thursday cited unnamed officials as saying that the Boeing 777 was "pinging" satellites for hours after its last contact with air-traffic controllers.
That led searchers to believe the plane could have flown more than 1,600 km (1,000 miles) beyond its last confirmed radar sighting.
The US, which is one of a number of countries helping in the search for the plane, has now sent a navy destroyer and a sophisticated surveillance aircraft to the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles west of Malaysia.
The Indian navy, air force and coast guard are also now assisting after a request for help from the Malaysian government.
Unnamed officials said the plane sent signals to satellites for up to five hours after its apparent disappearance.
However, investigators said the data were not conclusive and Malaysia refused to comment on the claims.
Flight MH370 vanished last Saturday with 239 people on board.
This story is a mystery for sure, but information is now starting to emerge that allows us to join some of the dots.
We know the aeroplane was fitted with a satellite system that enabled it to pass information to the ground during flight. It is my understanding that this system, operated by London's big satellite telecommunications company Inmarsat, received an automated signal from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 at least five hours after the plane was reported lost.
There is no way that signal could have been sent unless the plane was intact and powered. These types of satellite systems can pass a range of data, even voice calls.
But even if the last communication was a simple, automated ping carrying no real information, its receipt alone should make it possible to work out an approximate position for the aircraft at the time of that last signal. This may well explain why the US has now sent search teams to the Indian Ocean.
The plane, which was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, last made contact with air traffic control over the South China Sea to the east of Malaysia.
But several US media reports on Thursday cited unnamed officials as saying that the Boeing 777 was "pinging" satellites for hours after its last contact with air-traffic controllers.
That led searchers to believe the plane could have flown more than 1,600 km (1,000 miles) beyond its last confirmed radar sighting.
The US, which is one of a number of countries helping in the search for the plane, has now sent a navy destroyer and a sophisticated surveillance aircraft to the Indian Ocean, hundreds of miles west of Malaysia.
The Indian navy, air force and coast guard are also now assisting after a request for help from the Malaysian government.