MH370 plane
MH370: The missing aircraft, 9M-MRO, at Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2011 Wiki Commons/Laurent ERRERA

More than £20,000 has been stolen from the bank accounts of four passengers who disappeared aboard the doomed MH370 flight.

Flight MH370 vanished in March 2014, with 239 people on board, after diverting from its planned route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

A bank in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia has now reported that mysterious withdrawals, totalling 111,000 RM (£20,916), have been recorded from the accounts of four passengers, five months after the flight disappeared without trace.

According to reports, the transactions were made on July 18, when money from the accounts of three passengers was transferred to the account of a fourth passenger.

We are investigating the case as unauthorised access with intent to commit an offence. We are getting CCTV footage from the bank to identify the suspects involved.
- Izany Abdul Ghany, Assistant Commissioner

Izany Abdul Ghany, Assistant Commissioner to the crime investigation department said: "We are investigating the case as unauthorised access with intent to commit an offence. We are getting CCTV footage from the bank to identify the suspects involved."

A source told the New Straits Times: "We believe the suspect withdrew the money through the fourth victim's account via several automated teller machines (ATMs) in the Klang Valley."

The news of the unauthorised bank transactions adds further to the mystery of the missing plane, which disappeared off the radar with 239 passengers and crew on board.

So far, all efforts to locate Flight MH370 have failed and officials are no closer to establishing what happened to the Boeing 777.

Conspiracy theories have focused on a suicide plot by 53-year-old Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and a possible terrorist attack, after it was revealed that two of the passengers were travelling with false passports.

With the international community joining forces to continue the hunt for the missing airline, a deep-water search across 60,000 square kilometres of the Indian Ocean is planned for September.

Despite facing criticism for the lack of any findings, during what has been the most expensive search operation in aviation history, the Joint Agency Coordination Centre has claimed the rescue operation is making 'good progress'.

Malaysia Airlines are still reeling after suffering two major disasters within months, after Flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 passengers.

Airline officials are now considering rebranding the airline and restructuring the business.