DHAKA: Analysis of electronic pulses picked up from a missing Malaysian airliner shows it could have run out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean after it flew hundreds of miles off course.

A source familiar with official US assessments said, reports The Straits Times.

The source, who is familiar with data the US government, is receiving from the investigation into the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines plane, said on Friday that the other, less likely possibility was that it flew on towards India.

The data obtained from pulses the plane sent to satellites had been interpreted to provide two different analyses because it was ambiguous, said the source, who declined to be identified because of the ongoing investigation.

But it offers the first real clues as to the fate of Flight MH370, which officials increasingly believe was deliberately diverted off its scheduled course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The Boeing 777-200ER was carrying 239 people.

Two sources familiar with the probe earlier said Malaysian military radar data showed a plane that investigators suspect was Flight MH370 following a commonly used navigational route towards the Middle East and Europe when it was last spotted by radar early on March 8, northwest of Malaysia.

The electronic pulses were believed to have been transmitted for several hours after the plane flew out of radar range, said the source familiar with the data.

BDST: 1007 HRS, MAR 15, 2014