The hunt for missing flight MH370 will be extended, with government officials from Australia, China and Malaysia deciding to double the search area. The airplane, which spectacularly vanished last year with 239 people on board, is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean off Australia's west coast. By expanding the search area for the downed plane, the mission to recover it could go on for another 12 months, according to government officials. Scroll down for video . Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 disappeared while travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on-board . The expanded search will 'cover the entire highest probability area identified by expert analysis', Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss. He made the announcement after meeting with Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai and Chinese transport minister Yang Chuantang on Thursday. 'We're confident we're searching in the right area,' Mr Truss told a press conference. 'I'm very confident that we have the best search equipment in the world and if the aircraft is in the area that we're looking, we will find it. 'The high resolution of the pictures that the ministers have been shown today gives us a high level of confidence that, if there is any piece of the aircraft that's within the range of these vehicles, they will pick it up and be able to identify it.' Mr Truss added all those involved in the search were determined to do everything possible 'to give answers to the families of the loves ones who've been lost'. The news came weeks after fresh testimonies from a small island community in the Maldives reignited reports the plane could have crashed more than 5,000 kilometres away from the official search led by Australian authorities. Australia's Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss (L), Malaysia's Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai (C) and Chinese Transport Minister Yang Chuantan (R) shake hands after the MH370 joint press conference at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur . Locals from the island of Kudahuvadhoo, located in the southern area of the Dhaalu Atoll in the Maldives, reported witnessing 'a low-flying jumbo jet' on the morning of March 8 last year. They believed they had identified red and blue markings, similar to those of the missing plane, on a large passenger jet which flew over the island on the morning of the MH370's disappearance, according to the Weekend Australian. 'I'm very sure of what I saw on a very clear and bright day, and what I saw was not normal- the plane was very big, and low,' Ahmed Shiyaam said. Mr Truss added that all those involved in the search were determined to do everything possible 'to give answers to the families of the loves ones who've been lost' The search zone for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 will be doubled if nothing is found in the huge undersea area now being scanned for wreckage . Locals from the island of Kudahuvadhoo in the Maldives reported witnessing 'a low-flying jumbo jet' on the morning of March 8 last year when MH370 disappeared . Kudahuvadhoo is located in the southern area of the Dhaalu Atoll, in the Maldives, in the Indian Ocean . 'I did not know until later that other people saw it too. I don't know if it's the Malaysia plane.' Abdu Rasheed Ibrahim said he saw the plane flying towards him over the water, and did not know at the time that it could be the missing Malaysian Airlines flight. 'I didn't know that a plane was missing,' Mr Ibrahim said. The search has focused on 60,000 square kilometres of deep ocean off the coast of Western Australia . The search for the missing plane has been headed up by the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre . The expanded search will 'cover the entire highest probability area identified by expert analysis', Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss . 'I went straight home and told my wife about it. I told my family, 'I saw this strange plane'. 'This is the biggest plane I have ever seen from this island...I have seen pictures of the missing plane- I believe I saw the plane...I strongly felt those people who were searching should come here.' Acoustic scientists from Curtin University refuse to rule out the possibility that 'distinctive' data they recorded from the area at the assumed time of the crash may have come from the impact of the aircraft as it hit the Indian Ocean. A detailed map of the search was released by the Australian government . Dr Alec Duncan and his associates from the university's Centre for Marine Science and Technology began investigating a low-frequency underwater sound signal which was recorded west of Rottnest Island just after 1:30 am UTC on March 8. 'Data from one of the IMOS (Integrated Marine Observing System) recorders showed a clear acoustic signal at a time that was reasonably consistent with other information relating to the disappearance of MH370,' Dr Duncan said in a statement released by Curtin University. 'The crash of a large aircraft in the ocean would be a high energy event and expected to generate intense underwater sounds.' Curtin University Centre for Marine Science and Technology's Dr Alec Duncan began investigating a low-frequency underwater sound signal . Malaysia's civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman declared the crash an accident . Dr Duncan said that the noise may have been due to a geological event, including a small earth tremor, but the timing piqued the interest of his research team. The crash was officially declared an accident by Malaysia civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman earlier this year. 'Based on all available data as well as circumstances ... survivability in the defined area is highly unlikely. It is therefore with the heaviest heart and deepest sorrow that we officially declare Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 an accident,' Mr Rahman said. It is more than one year since Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing. Here is a timeline of the main events since the plane disappeared. 2014 . March 8 . The Malaysian Airlines Boeing 777 takes off from Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am local time bound for Beijing, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew. The plane is last seen on military radar at 2.14am, heading west over the Strait of Malacca. Half an hour later the airline reveals to the public that it has lost contact with the plane. The plane was due to land at around 6.30am. March 10 . Vietnamese aircraft search for a plane door spotted in their waters but find nothing. A day later the hunt is widened to cover a 115-nautical mile radius involving 34 aircraft and 40 ships from several countries. March 13 . Malaysian authorities expand their search for the missing jet into the Andaman Sea and beyond after acknowledging it could have flown for several more hours after its last contact with the ground. March 15 . Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak says the missing airliner was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after losing contact with the ground. March 8 to April 24 . The search area covers the South China Sea, the Straits of Malacca, the Andaman Sea and the southern Indian Ocean. April 24 . The search and rescue phase becomes a search and recovery phase, with it moving a few days later to an underwater phase using an autonomous underwater vehicle and a bathymetry survey covering an area around 430 miles (692km) long and 50 miles (80km) wide. June 2014 . Australian authorities issue a preliminary report in which they theorise that MH370's crew became incapacitated, possibly due to oxygen starvation, with the plane continuing on autopilot. August 28 . Australia's deputy prime minister, Warren Truss, says the aircraft 'might have turned south a little earlier than we have previously expected'. September 19 . After a four-month lull, it is announced that the underwater search, involving depths of up to 3.7 miles (6km), would resume at the end of September. October 2014 . The new underwater search involves ships dragging sonar devices called towfish through the water about 330ft (100m) above the seabed to hunt for wreckage. The towfish are equipped with jet fuel sensors and can transmit data to those on board the vessels. 2015 . January . Senior Boeing 777 captain Simon Hardy suggests the missing aircraft's final resting place is in the Indian Ocean just outside the far south-western edge of the core search area. January 28 . Malaysia's Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) officially declares the incident 'an accident'. The DCA says it had concluded the aircraft exhausted its fuel 'over a defined area of the southern Indian Ocean'. The DCA adds that efforts to find the plane will continue. March 7 . Malaysia's transport minister, Liow Tiong Lai, says data will be re-examined and a new plan formulated if the plane is not found by the end of May. April 14 . Search area expanded by government officials in charge of the hunt for MH370.
Search area for missing flight MH370 doubled by government officials . Extended search area means hunt for plane could run for another year . Comes after Maldives locals said they saw a low-flying jet on day of crash . Island sighting more than 5,000 kilometres away from the then-search area .