Investigators looking for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 have said the search area could be doubled in size if the present exploration fails to locate the plane.

The latest news comes as ministers from Australian, Malaysian and Chinese meet to discuss progress.

The plane, on route from Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, China, disappeared shortly after take-off on March 8th 2014.

At the moment teams using sophisticated sonar equipment are scouring a 60,000 sq km area of seabed far west of the Australian city of Perth.

About 40 per cent of this remains to be searched.

The plane is believed to have crashed off Western Australia, but so far no trace has been found.

If nothing is found, the search will be extended by another 60,000 sq km to “cover the entire highest probability area identified by expert analysis”.

A statement added the additional search area could take up to a year to complete given adverse weather conditions in the upcoming winter months.