The Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) has released a new report on Thursday concluding that the passengers and crew of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 most likely suffocated to death as the missing jet cruised across the waters on autopilot.

The 55-page report also detailed how investigators had compared the flight with other similar disasters to finally arrive at that conclusion. However, the file did not contain new evidence from the aircraft, according to the Reuters.

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The report also narrowed down the possible places where the jetliner had come to a stop, taking in consideration the autopilot mode and the absence of communications. The ATSB said the best possible destination would be "a generally southerly direction."

These factors come together to suggest that Flight MH370 most likely crashed in the southernmost part of the Indian Ocean, according to Australian officials, who later on moved the previous search area farther south.0

The new development comes more than 100 days after the plane mysteriously disappeared on March 8 on its way to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. The Boeing 777 had 239 passengers and crew on board.

The search area was determined in April after investigators got a series of acoustic pings which were thought to come from the aircraft's black box recorders. One month later, officials decided to expand the search area when they found no evidence of the wreckage in Australia's northwest coast.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said the new priority search area is centered on the "seventh arc," where the plane last got in touch with the satellite. Officials are now moving south along the arc towards one of the farthest areas of the Earth.

The next segment of the search is set to commence August and is expected to go on for a year. Now considered as the most expensive search in aviation history, it has already cost at least $56 million (A$60 million) and covered around 60,000 sq km.

The new priority area, a body of isolated ocean frequently beset by storms and strong winds, is located some 2,000 km west from Perth.

As of now, a Chinese and vessel and another one from Dutch engineering firm Fugro, are mapping the sea floor along the seventh arc with a depth of 5,000 meters.

Tagsmh370, missing aircraft, suffocation, cause of death, Malaysian Airlines, Report, Australian Transport Safety Board