Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has announced Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 crashed into the southern Indian Ocean.

The announcement was made following analysis of fresh satellite data which tracked the aircraft to the area.

Malaysian Airlines has told families of those onboard the aircraft it had to be assumed “beyond reasonable doubt” the plane was lost and there were no survivors.

Flight MH370 disappeared after taking off on March 8th from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board.

Razak added investigators “have concluded MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.”

He went on: “This is a remote location, far from any possible landing sites.

“It is therefore with deep sadness and regret that I must inform you that, according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”

The news came following analysis of data provided by the Air Accidents Investigation Branch and Inmarsat in the UK.