Work on Australian disaster movie Deep Water has been postponed due to its similarities with the Malaysia Airlines tragedy.

Malaysian officials announced on Monday (24Mar14) that missing flight Mh370 had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean and all 239 passengers and crew are presumed dead.

Executives for Deep Water, which is a follow-up to shark horror Bait 3D, have now decided to put the movie on hold as its plotline of a plane crashing in a remote region of an ocean en route from Beijing, China is too similar to the recent aviation catastrophe.

Gary Hamilton, managing director of Arclight Films, tells the Hollywood Reporter, "Out of sensitivity to the Malaysia flight situation, we've decided to put it (Deep Water) on pause for now."

It is unknown when work on the film will resume but it will reportedly be at least two years before it is released.