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0 March 2014 Last updated at 04:56 Share this pagePrint
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Australia sees possible plane debris
A man watches a large screen showing different flights at the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport 13 March 2014
Teams from 26 countries are trying to find flight MH370
Continue reading the main story
MH370 mystery
Live updates Live
What we know
Military at fault?
Search logistics
Two objects have been seen that could possibly relate to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, Australian PM Tony Abbott has announced.
Australian vessels have been searching in the southern Indian Ocean for the aircraft, which disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board.
Mr Abbott said the objects had been identified on satellite imagery.
Planes from Australia, New Zealand and the US were heading to the area to try to locate the objects, officials said.
Mr Abbott warned, however, that finding the objects would be very difficult and said they could turn out to be unrelated to the Malaysian aircraft.
A number of sightings of possible debris have been investigated in the search for the plane but so far none have proved to be linked.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it lost contact with air traffic controllers.
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.
Southern corridor
Tony Abbott: "The task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult"
"The Australian Maritime Safety Authority 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.
In a subsequent press conference, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (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.
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.
Map showing search area for MH370
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Australia sees possible plane debris
A man watches a large screen showing different flights at the departure hall of Kuala Lumpur International Airport 13 March 2014
Teams from 26 countries are trying to find flight MH370
Continue reading the main story
MH370 mystery
Live updates Live
What we know
Military at fault?
Search logistics
Two objects have been seen that could possibly relate to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, Australian PM Tony Abbott has announced.
Australian vessels have been searching in the southern Indian Ocean for the aircraft, which disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board.
Mr Abbott said the objects had been identified on satellite imagery.
Planes from Australia, New Zealand and the US were heading to the area to try to locate the objects, officials said.
Mr Abbott warned, however, that finding the objects would be very difficult and said they could turn out to be unrelated to the Malaysian aircraft.
A number of sightings of possible debris have been investigated in the search for the plane but so far none have proved to be linked.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it lost contact with air traffic controllers.
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.
Southern corridor
Tony Abbott: "The task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult"
"The Australian Maritime Safety Authority 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.
In a subsequent press conference, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (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.
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.
Map showing search area for MH370
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