Missing Malaysian plane: Australia sees possible debris

Australia is investigating two objects seen on
satellite images that could potentially be linked to
the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, officials say.
Planes and ships from Australia, New Zealand and
the US were heading to the area 2,500km (1,550
miles) south-west of Perth to search for the
objects.
The largest appeared to be 24m in size, maritime
authorities said, but warned they could be
unrelated to the plane.
Australia has been searching in the southern
Indian Ocean for the aircraft.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was flying from
Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March when it lost
contact with air traffic controllers. A total of 239
people were on board.
Twenty-six nations have been involved in a major
search for the missing plane, which Malaysia says
was intentionally diverted.
Investigators have been scrutinising the
backgrounds of both the crew and the passengers,
but have so far identified no evidence of terror or
other potentially relevant links.
A number of sightings of possible debris have
been investigated in the course of the search but
so far none have proved to be linked.
Southern corridor
Prime Minister Tony Abbott announced the
discovery of the objects in parliament.
"The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa)
has received information based on satellite
information of objects possibly related to the
search," Mr Abbott said.
"Following specialist analysis of this satellite
imagery, two possible objects related to the search
have been identified."
An Australian Orion aircraft is currently in the
search area and three more planes, including US
and New Zealand aircraft, are on their way, as well
as a merchant ship.
Amsa said the debris had been located in waters
some 2,500km south-west of the Australian city of
Perth.
The objects identified were of a "reasonable size",
Amsa's general manager John Young said. The
largest object appeared to be about 24m in size,
he said.
"This is a lead, it is probably the best lead we
have right now. But we need to get there, find
them, see them, assess them, to know whether it's
really meaningful or not."
He warned that poor visibility in the area could
hamper the search.
Satellite signal
Earlier this week, Australia was asked by Malaysia
to take responsibility for the "southern corridor"
search.
Investigators had identified two corridors of
territory - one to the north and one to the south -
spanning the possible positions of the plane about
seven hours after take-off.
This was based on its last faint signal to a satellite
- an hourly "handshake'' broadcast even when the
main communication systems are switched off.
The plane lost contact with controllers over the
South China Sea as it crossed from Malaysian to
Vietnamese air space.
Malaysian officials say it then turned west and its
last position - according to Malaysian military
radar - was over the Malacca Straits, in the
opposite direction to its planned flight path.
Attention has focused on the crew and on
Wednesday multiple unidentified US officials said
that the FBI was helping Malaysia analyse data
from a flight simulator taken from the captain's
home.
Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister
Hishammuddin Hussein, at a press conference on
Wednesday, stressed the captain should be
considered innocent until proved otherwise and
said that members of his family were co-operating
with the investigation.