International teams hunting for the Malaysia Airlines jet turned to a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean on Friday.

The area was the starting point for a desperate underwater search for the plane's black boxes before the devices' batteries run out. But by last night nothing had been found.

Ships with equipment that can detect "pings" from the black box flight data recorders were making their way along a 240-km route that investigators hope may be close to the spot where flight MH370 crashed into the ocean.