MH370 pilot practised suicide route into the Indian Ocean

The captain of missing flight MH370 practised crashing into the Indian Ocean on a simulator weeks before his plane disappeared, confidential police documents reveal.

The documents show that captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah practised flying across remote sections of the ocean until his plane ran out of fuel.

It suggests the disappearance of MH370 was not an accident, but a suicide mission meticulously planned by the pilot, New York magazine reported.

The route he practised on the simulator took him out of Kuala Lumpur before heading south over the remote expanse of the Indian Ocean.

It is a route eerily similar to the one investigators believe the plane flew before it vanished in March 2014.

The simulator data was gleaned from a computer by the FBI and used by the Malaysian Police during their investigation into the incident.

However, the findings were withheld from the public when police released their official investigation last March.

Before the flight vanished it is understood Shah had been distracted and withdrawn as he dealt with the break-up of his marriage.

Speaking in 2014 about the mystery, the wife and daughter of Shah said the 53-year-old pilot had been desolate in the weeks before the aircraft's disappearance - and refused pleas to attend marriage counselling sessions.

Three weeks after the split Flight MH370 went missing, with some investigators suggesting it was a deliberate and desperate ploy by Shah.

The revelations come as officials from Malaysia, China and Australia admit they could have been searching in the wrong area for the plane for the last two years.

"With less than 10,000 square kilometres (3861 square miles) of the high priority search area remaining to be searched, ministers acknowledged that despite the best efforts of all involved the likelihood of finding the aircraft is fading," the three nations' transport ministers said after a meeting in Malaysia as the Indian Ocean continued to be scoured.

Meanwhile relatives of people aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 urged governments to step up the hunt for the aircraft.

Jacquita Gonzales, the wife of MH370 steward Patrick Gomes, said China and Malaysia had not contributed enough to the search effort.

"China, you could do more. I'm sorry for being so frank but you have the most at stake here,' she said at a news conference.

"[Malaysia], you need to do your bit and not just say 'I'm so sorry, we're short of funds, there's nowhere else to search'."

Since the crash there have been competing theories over whether one, both or neither pilot were in control, whether it was hijacked - or whether all aboard perished and the plane was not controlled at all when it hit the water.

MH370 disappeared during a flight from the Malaysian capital to Beijing in March 2014, carrying 239 people.

Almost NZ$193 million (US$135 million) has been spent on an underwater search spanning 120,000 sq km in the southern Indian Ocean, the most expensive in aviation history.

Where to get help:

• Lifeline: 0800 543 354 (available 24/7)
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: 0508 828 865 (0508 TAUTOKO) (available 24/7)
• Youth services: (06) 3555 906 (Palmerston North and Levin)
• Youthline: 0800 376 633
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• Whatsup: 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)
• Depression helpline: 0800 111 757 (available 24/7)
• Samaritans: 0800 726 666 (available 24/7)
If it is an emergency and you feel like you or someone else is at risk, call 111.