A group of 10 independent researchers released a statement Tuesday detailing their findings and recommendations regarding a new search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.
The scientists pored over the 45 pages of raw satellite data that Malaysian officials released last week, and conducted their own analysis to determine the most likely crash site of the doomed flight.
Flight 370 disappeared on March 8 while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. 239 people were on board. No debris or other evidence of a crash have been found.
The government's search primarily focused on the area of the southern Indian Ocean off the coast of Perth, Australia after investigators detected pings thought to be from the missing plane. The independent researchers say that the search should have been hundreds of miles southwest of that location.
"While there remain a number of uncertainties and some disagreements as to the interpretation of aspects of the data, our best estimates of a location of the aircraft [is] near 36.02 South 88.57 East," their statement read.
"We recommend that the search for MH370 be focused in this area."
Malaysian officials announced last month that the pings were not from the missing aircraft's black box. The U.S. Navy's Bluefin 21 submarine spent nearly two months combing the area, but found nothing.
One of the experts, American Mobile Satellite Corp. Co-Founder Mike Exner, told CNN that each of the five computer models created by his group put the crash site in a "pretty tight cluster...plus or minus 50 miles of each other."
Another expert, Tim Farrar, said in a blog post that the group's conclusion is a "best estimate—but not the only possible—location for a potential search."
The search for Flight 370 was suspended on May 28, and will resume in several months with new equipment and a larger search area. New sonar devices will be used, and the search area will expand to 60,000 square kilometers (23,000 square miles).
It remains to be seen whether the expert's recommended search area will be considered by Malaysian officials.
