Pings may not have been from black boxes

• The pings have been at the center of the search for weeks


• The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared on March 8

(CNN) -- The 850 square kilometers scanned off the coast of western Australia in the hunt for a missing Malaysia Airlines plane are not the "final resting place of MH370," the agency leading the search said Thursday.

The search area is where pings originally thought to be from the black boxes of the Boeing 777 were heard in early April.

"The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has advised that the search in the vicinity of the acoustic detections can now be considered complete and in its professional judgment, the area can now be discounted as the final resting place of MH370," a statement from the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said.

Flight 370 disappeared on March 8 with 239 people on board.

CNN's David Molko contributed to this report.