Search for debris to resume

Bad weather hampered the search for any signs of the missing MH370 Thursday, after Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot announced there were credible satellite images of at least two large unknown objects in the southern Indian Ocean.   [Special coverage]

Four aircraft from Australia, New Zealand and the US ended a frustrating day without having spotted the two pieces of flotsam, one 24 meters long, the other 5 meters in length. A Norwegian-registered merchant vessel carrying cars also arrived in the area to help, and Chinese ships are on the way to the area.

The search will resume Friday morning, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.

Almost two weeks into the disappearance of MH370, Australia on Thursday said two objects possibly related to the missing plane were sighted around 2,500 kilometers southwest of Perth.

The discovery was dubbed the "best lead" since the plane, with 239 people on board, vanished en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur on March 8. The satellite images dated from Sunday.

Chinese navy spokesperson Liang Yang said on Thursday that the navy would reroute two warships to the southern Indian Ocean more than 2,000 nautical miles away from their current positions.

China's icebreaker Xuelong, currently anchored in Perth, is also prepared to sail to the area, according to the State Oceanic Administration. It will take four days for the icebreaker to reach the area.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) Emergency Response Division General Manager John Young told a press conference in Canberra that AMSA's Rescue Coordination Center Australia received an expert assessment of commercial satellite imagery on Thursday.

"The assessment of these images was provided by the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence Organization as a possible indication of debris south of the search area that has been the focus of the search operation," he said.

While regarding it "credible," the AMSA official noted it may not be related to the aircraft, and may be a shipping container.

At a regular press conference at Sama-Sama Hotel near Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia's acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein on Thursday also confirmed it was a credible lead.

"This is something we can bring our ships across. That is slightly different from the earlier leads," he said, referring to an earlier satellite imagery released by China, which turned out to be wrong.

On Thursday afternoon, Malaysian authorities, military and foreign experts held closed-door sessions at Sama-Sama Hotel.

When leaving the meeting, Malaysia's Director General of the Department of Civil Aviation, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, told the Global Times, "We don't know yet [if they are debris from the plane], and we have to wait."

Local media have speculated that Australia was unwilling to disclose whether its installations tracked MH370.

The New Straits Times this week carried a report, saying that Australia's Jindalee Over-The-Horizon Radar system and Pine Gap satellite tracking facility, operated by both the US and Australia, might be able to track the missing plane.

Asked whether Malaysia felt reluctance from Australia and the US in handing over satellite imagery, Hishammuddin said, "We have had no reluctance from any of our partners in the search and rescue operation."

Hishammuddin said a high-level team would leave for Beijing Thursday to brief relatives on the latest situation.

He also said the Malaysian prime minister's special envoy to China and the Chinese Ambassador to Malaysia briefed Chinese families in Kuala Lumpur, as well as airline and government officials.

The meetings came after four Chinese relatives stormed the press center at Sama-Sama Hotel on Wednesday.

The Global Times learned that demanding information to be delivered by senior officials was their major reason to stage the protest.

After venting their frustration over the lack of information from the Malaysian side, the distraught relatives were dragged out of the room, screaming and weeping.

Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said he regrets what happened on Wednesday, and will launch a full investigation.

If it is confirmed the plane is near Australia, relatives will be helped to go there, said Ahmad.