The plane disappeared without a trace in March last year but is believed to have crashed in the Indian Ocean off Australia’s west coast.
Four vessels owned by Dutch engineering firm Fugro, equipped with sophisticated underwater drones, have searched more than 60 per cent of the previously unmapped 60,000-square-kilometre expanse of sea floor that has been designated the highest priority.
Mr Truss, Malaysian transport minister Liow Tiong Lai and his Chinese counterpart, Yang Chuantang, met in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday and pledged to double the current search area if necessary.
“Should the aircraft not be found within the current search area, ministers agreed to extend the search by an additional 60,000 square kilometres to bring the search area to 120,000 square kilometres and thereby cover the entire highest probability area identified by expert analysis,” they said in a joint statement.