HO CHI MINH CITY, March 15 -- Seven days after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 lost contact with ground control, Phu Quoc Island witnessed a withdrawal of reporters as the focus of search efforts had shifted to the Indian Ocean.

The tranquil island in southwest Vietnam was flooded by reporters from China, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Western countries after it was reported that the plane, which suddenly vanished from radar screen on the early morning of March 8, might have crashed into the waters near the island.

However, shortly after the press conference at the Search Command Center on Thursday night, about a hundred reporters decided to leave the island as days of search in surrounding waters were fruitless.

On Friday night, Duan Lu Gi, Vietnam National Flight Control deputy general manager, said his rescuers had found nothing yet. He added his country would continue to send four aircraft to search for the jet Saturday, and eight ships still scouring the waters now would also continue their search operation.

Reporters from four to five media outlets shared the gloomy message with him at the press conference, which might be the last one on the island.

According to the official, the Search Command Center on Phu Quoc Island will no longer hold regular news briefings on a daily basis from Saturday on. However, press conferences will be resumed if there is a major breakthrough in the search and rescue work.

Wednesday was the most chaotic day for news media as it witnessed a flurry of information about the search efforts, and the Gulf of Thailand started to be deserted by search and rescue teams.

1st Piece of Information:

On Wednesday, a report from Malaysia said floating corpses were found in Penang, Malaysia, but it was later proved fake. The report was based on a "WeChat" message released by a newspaper journalist, which was copied by another journalist who sent the message quickly to his headquarters without verifying it. This is an extreme case of being thirsty and hungry for news.

2nd Piece of Information:

An official of the Search Command Center on Phu Quoc Island said on Wednesday that suspicious wreckages were found in the Cambodian waters, and a seaplane was designated to do search there. However, when answering a Xinhua reporter's telephone inquiry, a Cambodian airlines spokesman said there were no wreckages in his country's waters.

3rd Piece of Information:

When answering press questions on Tuesday, the Malaysian military issued a statement to clarify that the military did not say "the plane was diverted to Malacca Strait," but it did not rule out the possibility of MH370 being diverted. The existence of such a possibility means there was a missing link in Vietnam's earlier judgment about the location of the missing plane when it lost contact with ground control.

Also on Wednesday, Malaysia expanded the search area from the Gulf of Thailand to the Andaman Sea, while Vietnam suspended searching planes from taking off from Phu Quoc Island and altered its original search plan.

Upon hearing the news, journalists set about leaving Phu Quoc Island though there was a scheduled press conference the next day. On Friday, Vietnam announced a new search area.

Deputy Commander of Vietnamese Navy Le Minh Thanh told Xinhua late Friday that any country or organization participating in the search and rescue operation has the right to make assumptions as they may shed light on more possibilities about the missing plane.