Malaysia's Prime Minister has announced that on the basis of the latest analysis, it can be concluded that the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went down in the Indian Ocean.

The announcement came as the search effort in the southern Indian Ocean completed a fifth day of operations, the BBC reports.

"This evening I was briefed by representatives from the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB). They informed me that Inmarsat, the UK company that provided the satellite data which indicated the northern and southern corridors, has been performing further calculations on the data. Using a type of analysis never before used in an investigation of this sort, they have been able to shed more light on MH370's flight path.

Based on their new analysis, Inmarsat and the AAIB have concluded that MH370 flew along the southern corridor, and that its last position was in the middle of the Indian Ocean, west of Perth.

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", Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a press conference Monday, cited by The Telegraph.

On Saturday, China released a satellite image showing an object floating in the southern Indian Ocean near to the area already being searched, some 2,500 km south-west of Perth, Australia.

The image was taken at about 04:00 GMT on 18 March and showed objects about 120km south by west from the site of possible debris shown in another satellite image from 16 March, the BBC informs.

The Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared on March 8, with 239 people on board.