Possible plane debris spotted off Australia

Australia has sent an aircraft to investigate two objects spotted by satellite floating in the southern Indian Ocean that could be debris from a Malaysian jetliner missing with 239 people on board, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said.

“New and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean,” Abbott told the Australian parliament on Thursday.

No confirmed wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been found since it vanished from air traffic control screens off Malaysia’s east coast early on March 8, less than an hour after taking off.

“The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has received information based on satellite imagery of objects  possibly related to the search,” Abbott said.

“Following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified,” he said.

In a news conference in Canberra, John Young, an Australian maritime official, said that one of the objects spotted could be as large as 24 metres. 

“They are objects of a reasonable size and probably awash with water moving up and down over the surface,” Young said.

Young said visibility was poor and may hamper efforts to find the objects.

The area where the possible debris was found is about 2,500 km southwest of Perth.

Possible flight paths suggested that the plane may have gone down in the southern Indian Ocean.

Royal Australian Air Force Air Commodore John McGarry said the findings”is credible enough to divert the research to this area on the basis it provides a promising lead to what might be wreckage from the debris field.”

Meanwhile, the Australian prime minister said he had already spoken with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak and cautioned that the objects had yet to be identified, according to Reuters news agency.

Abbott cautioned, however, that the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and “it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370.”

Abbott said that a Royal Australian Airforce Orion has been diverted to the area to attempt to locate the objects. The Orion is expected to arrive in the area on Thursday afternoon, the Associated Press news agency reported.

Three additional aircraft are expected to follow for a more intensive search, he said.