Radar-tracking evidence showed the missing Malaysia Airlines plane was deliberately flown towards India’s Andaman Islands, it has been reported.

Malaysia’s acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein this morning confirmed the international search had been expanded into the Indian Ocean due to “new information”.

Nearly a week after the airliner disappeared with 239 people on board, sources familiar with the investigation have told Reuters the plane was flown towards the small chain of islands in the Indian Ocean.

“What we can say is we are looking at sabotage, with hijack still on the cards,” said a unnamed senior Malaysian police official.

The Andaman Islands lie to the west of the South China Sea, where the Beijing-bound plane last made contact about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.

Mr Hussein said there was evidence of a plane turning back, but it may not have been the missing flight.

He also refused to address US media reports, citing unidentified US officials, that the plane had flown for four to five hours after vanishing from civilian radar.

“We do not want to be drawn into specific remarks that unnamed officials have reportedly made in the media,” Mr Hussein said.

“We want nothing more than to find the plane as quickly as possible. But the circumstances have forced us to widen our search.”

Mr Hussein also said data would not be publicly released unless it was corroborated.

The US reports were based on information that the plane’s communication system continued to “ping” a satellite for up to four hours after it disappeared.

He said Malaysia was working with the US to get satellite data on the plane.

White House spokesman Jay Carney earlier preempted Mr Hussien’s announcement, saying: “It’s my understanding that based on some new information that’s not necessarily conclusive – but new information – an additional search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean.”

A US Navy official said the destroyer USS Kidd was being sent to the Indian Ocean – on the opposite side of the Malaysian peninsula from where contact was lost – to investigate.

Much of the early search for the Boeing 777 has been focused east of Malaysia in the South China Sea.

Ships and planes have also been searching the Strait of Malacca, west of Malaysia, because of a blip on Malaysian military radar suggested the jet might have turned in that direction.

Malaysian air traffic control last spoke with flight MH370’s pilots as the plane left their zone and moved into Vietnamese air space. Vietnamese officials have said they never heard from the aircraft.

Despite an extensive search, no trace has been found of the missing plane since it disappeared and aviation experts have so far failed to locate the aircraft’s black box recorder.

The total search area is now 35,800 square miles – around the size of Portugal.

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