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A huge international operation is continuing to try to find the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 - one week after the plane with 239 people disappeared, the BBC reported. 

Search efforts are focusing on the area to the west of the Malay Peninsula.

The US has sent a naval ship and a surveillance plane to search areas of the Bay of Bengal, the Andaman Sea and parts of the Indian Ocean.

Information has emerged that the plane may have been flying for at least five hours after it vanished.

It is believed the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight was sending automated signals to a satellite system long after radar contact was lost, the BBC has learned.

The plane last made contact with air traffic control over the South China Sea to the east of Malaysia.

However, the BBC understands that a satellite system operated by London-based telecommunications company Inmarsat received an automated signal from flight MH370 at least five hours after the plane was reported lost.

BBC science correspondent Jonathan Amos says the signal could only have been sent if the plane was intact and powered, and may explain why search teams are now focusing on the Indian Ocean.

Earlier, US media outlets also quoted unnamed officials as saying that the Boeing 777 was "pinging" satellites for hours after its last contact with air traffic controllers.

That led searchers to believe the plane could have flown more than 1,600 km (1,000 miles) beyond its last confirmed radar sighting.

White House spokesman Jay Carney has confirmed that US teams were shifting their focus to the Indian Ocean because of "new information", but gave no further details.

The Indian navy, air force and coast guard are also now involved after a request from the Malaysian government.

Indian naval spokesman DK Sharma said on Friday that six ships and five aircraft were scouring the Andaman Sea.

Malaysian authorities later said that India's Eastern Naval Command was to search an area of sea 9,000 sq km (3,500 sq miles) off the Chennai coast.

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Kuala Lumpur says the latest claims are being taken seriously by the US.

However, he cautions that there have already been a number of false leads.