MH370: Malaysia says plane's disappearance was an accident and all 239 passengers and crew are presumed dead

Tragic: MH370 disappeared without trace in March 2014

Malaysia has officially declared the disappearance of Flight MH370 an accident and says all 239 passengers and crew on board are presumed dead.

The Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared on March 8, 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in China.

There were 239 passengers and crew on board, most of whom were Chinese.

An international search operation in the Indian Ocean has yet to find any trace of the missing plane.

At present, the search is focused on a 60,000 square kilometre area in the Southern Indian Ocean, off the coast of Western Australia.

Malaysia says the hunt for the plane's wreckage will continue.

An interim report on the jetliner's disappearance is due to be published by March 8.