Flight MH370: China ship searching for objects in new area

This image of one the objects spotted was taken by a journalist on board the New Zealand plane

A Chinese ship is scouring a new area of the Indian Ocean for "objects" spotted in the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet, Australia says.

The vessel has been at the scene trying to retrieve the items since first light, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) says.
Aircraft are also travelling to the new search area, about 1,100km (700 miles) north-east of the previous zone.
The Beijing-bound airliner disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board.
Five search planes spotted multiple objects of various colours on Friday.
A Royal New Zealand Air Force Orion first spotted "a number of objects white or light in colour and a fishing buoy", Amsa said.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott: "We should not underestimate the difficulty of this work"

An Australian plane then went to relocate the items and spotted "two blue/grey rectangular objects", and three other planes reported similar sightings.

Investigators will not know whether the objects are connected to the missing plane until they have been recovered by ships.

The Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 was deployed to locate the objects early on Saturday, and eight aircraft will also be taking part in the day's operation, Amsa said in its latest statement.
Bad weather has hampered the search efforts in recent days.
Saturday's conditions are expected to be favourable initially but to deteriorate later in the day.
Burning more fuel The Australian and Malaysian governments said on Friday the search area had been changed following further analysis of radar data that showed the plane had been travelling faster, thus burning more fuel.
This would reduce the possible distance the aircraft travelled south into the Indian Ocean, officials said.
Search efforts had until Friday morning focused on an area some 2,500km (1,550 miles) to the south-west of the Australian city of Perth.

 

The Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 has started searching the new area

 

A Malaysian delegation met relatives of those on board MH370 in Beijing

Malaysian officials have concluded that, based on satellite data, the missing plane flew into the sea somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean. So far no trace of it has been found.
Using satellite images, several nations have identified objects floating in the sea in that search area, but these have not been located and there is no evidence that they are related to the plane.
Acting Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the fact that the search area had moved did not discount the earlier satellite images of possible debris further south.

MH370 - Facts at a glance

• 8 March - Malaysia Airlines Kuala Lumpur-Beijing flight carrying 239 people disappears
• Plane's transponder, which gives out location data, was switched off as it left Malaysian airspace
• Satellite 'pings' indicate plane was still flying seven hours after satellite contact was lost
• 24 March - Based on new calculations, Malaysian PM says "beyond reasonable doubt" that plane crashed in southern Indian Ocean with no survivors

"Because of ocean drift, this new search area could still be consistent with the potential objects identified by various satellite images over the past week," Mr Hishammuddin said.

Vast expanse Mystery still surrounds the fate of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, which vanished less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.
The airliner diverted off course and lost contact with air traffic controllers between Malaysian and Vietnamese air-traffic control areas.
The vast expanse of ocean has turned the search into a major challenge.
Some relatives of the flight's 153 Chinese passengers have refused to accept the Malaysian account of events and have accused officials of withholding information.