KUALA LUMPUR, March 25 — Search efforts for the missing Malaysian airliner have been called off in two specific areas, in light of satellite data analysis showing that the jet went down in the southern Indian Ocean, Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said today.

“The search and rescue in the northern corridor, northern part of southern corridor has been called off,” the acting transport minister told reporters at a news conference here.

Measures are now being taken to “further narrow down” the search area and to increase the number of aircraft and sea vessels in the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, he added.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak revealed last night that analysis by UK commercial satellite firm Inmarsat and the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) concluded that MH370 flew towards the Indian Ocean after it deviated from its flight path to Beijing.

Hishammuddin today said the refined search area currently covers an areas spanning nearly 470,000 nautical miles, or over 1.6 million square kilometres — more than 12 times the size of Malaysia.

“Yes, it is still a huge challenge to cover such a vast area but it is significantly smaller than the 2.24 million square nautical miles announced earlier,” he said, referring to the total search area under the northern and southern corridors initially identified as the plane’s possible flight path.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin said experts will continue to gather more satellite data, analyse radar information, increase air and surface assets and the number of technical and subject matter experts to speed up the process of further refining the search area.

“The new analysis shared with the investigation by Inmarsat and the AAIB has focussed our efforts on the southern part of the southern corridor.

“Although yesterday’s news was incredibly hard for the family members, as our Prime Minister said, it was released out of a commitment to openness and respect for the relatives, two principles which have guided the investigation,” he said.