Working on the "best lead", Australian military-led search aircraft were dispatched today to check whether two objects - one as large as 24 meters long - found in the southern Indian Ocean were the wreckage of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane with 239 people on board.
Australian officials said satellite imagery showed the objects were around 2,500 km southwest of Perth and appeared to be awash over water several thousand metres deep.
"It's probably the best lead we have right now," said Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) official John Young, but cautioned that the objects could also be seaborne debris as containers periodically fall off cargo vessels.
Military jets and ships from Australia, New Zealand and the US were heading to the area to search for the objects, as the multinational search operations entered 13th day today.
A merchant ship was expected to arrive in the vicinity soon with Australian naval vessel HMAS Success, which is capable of retrieving the objects.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott told parliament that he called his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak to relay the "new and credible information" about potential aircraft wreckage.
Search teams involving 26 countries are still trying to locate flight MH370, which went missing an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8 with 239 people on board, including five Indians and one Indian-Canadian.
"The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has received the information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search," Abbott said, adding that after specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified.
Abbott said an Australian Air Force Orion has been sent to locate the objects and three more aircraft will follow this Orion. "They are tasked for more intensive follow up search."
"The task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult...And it may be they do not relate to the aircraft," he told parliament.
Young said, "the objects are relatively indistinct. Those who are expert say they are credible sightings." He said the poor weather conditions is hampering the search at the moment.
In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said, "I can confirm we have a new lead.
