Malaysian officials say a pilot of missing MH-370 had plotted a course on his home flight simulator, to the area where the plane is thought to have crashed.

This is the first time Malaysia has acknowledged a theory put forward last month by Australian officials.

The plane disappeared in March 2014, with 239 people on board.

Data recovered from the home computer of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah included a flight path to the southern Indian Ocean, where the plane is believed to have come down.

Some parts of the passenger jet have washed up at a number of locations, but the main wreckage of the plane and black box recorders have never been found.

Millions of dollars have been spent on searches of the area in the Indian Ocean where it is thought the plane came down.