Kuala Lumpur, Sep 8 (IANS/EFE): After six months of searching for Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 which went missing March 8, the authorities have still not found any sign of the aircraft, Australian authorities said Monday.

The Boeing 777-200 took off with 239 passengers and crew from Kuala Lupmpur March 8 and was expected to reach Beijing six hours later.

However, 40 minutes after take off, the plane suddenly disappeared from radar screens and is believed to have crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean.

The Malaysian authorities said that the aircraft "deliberately" changed its course with no apparent reason to cross the Strait of Malacca, in a direction opposite to its original trajectory.

According to a group of experts studying the case, the plane flew towards the Indian Ocean with all the people aboard unconscious due to lack of oxygen until it ran out of fuel and plunged into the sea.

Since then not even a small piece of the fuselage of the plane or any other wreckage has been found.

Australian authorities who are leading international search operations, said that, in two weeks, a new phase of underwater tracking of an area about 60,000 sq km will start after mapping the seabed.

Families of the victims are still looking for answers about the tragedy which forced the Malaysian government to take control of Malaysian Airlines.

In July, the carrier suffered another tragedy when a missile shot down flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine, killing 298 people on board.