KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — Search efforts by India for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has found no signs of the plane, as the larger hunt slowly makes its way into the Indian Ocean.

The search that yesterday centred on Andaman and Nicobar in the Andaman sea was now expanded to the central and eastern sectors of the Bay of Bengal, with two of India’s P8i long-range maritime patrol and a C 130J Hercules plane joining the pair of Dornier aircraft and a helicopter already involved.

According to an Associated Press report, the Indian navy’s search has combed more than 250,000km in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal “without any sighting or detection”.

Besides the in the Andaman sea and further north, Indian ships are also helping in the search by more than a dozen nations for the missing plane, by looking in an area north of Sumatra, in the south Andaman Sea.

Malaysia today said the disappearance of the Beijing-bound plane with 239 onboard was due to “deliberate action”, and has since terminated the hunt in the South China Sea to concentrate efforts in the Indian Ocean.

MH370 went missing on March 8 shortly after it departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport.