Melbourne: Two objects possibly related to the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 239 people have been spotted in the southern Indian Ocean, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said today.
Abbott told parliament that he has called his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak to relay the “new and credible information” about potential aircraft wreckage.
“The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has received the information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search. Following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified,” he was quoted as saying by The Australian newspaper.
“A Royal Australian Air Force Orion has been diverted in an attempt to locate the objects. This Orion is expected to arrive in the area about this time. “Three more aircraft will follow this Orion. They are tasked for more intensive follow up search,” he said.
He did not specify where the objects were found. “The task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult…and it may be they do not relate to the aircraft,” he told parliament.
Five Indians and a Canadian of Indian-origin were among the 239 people on board the flight MH370 when it disappeared over the South China Sea an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8.
The mystery of the missing plane continued to baffle aviation and security authorities who have not succeeded in tracking the aircraft despite deploying hi-tech radar and other gadgets.
