Chinese ships search possible debris field

Five Chinese vessels have arrived in the waters where Australia spotted floating objects that might be related to missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Thursday.   [Special coverage]

Hong told a daily press briefing that another three vessels were heading for the sea area while four vessels were still searching the eastern part of the southern Indian Ocean. Search efforts will be strengthened after the vessels arrive, Hong added.

More objects, which could be part of the plane, were detected by satellite. A Thai satellite found some 300 objects in an area of the southern Indian Ocean. The images were taken by the Thaichote satellite on Monday, a day after images from a French satellite detected 122 floating objects.

A Japanese satellite also captured images of 10 objects, which could be part of the plane, Kyodo news agency quoted the government as saying on Thursday.

However, due to bad weather, the international search operations for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean were suspended on Thursday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said.

According to a press release from the Malaysia Ministry of Transport on Thursday, the Chinese special envoy received technical briefing by the international working group, led by the UK's Air Accidents Investigation Branch .

Compensation work from Chinese insurance companies has begun after Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Monday that the flight "ended" in the southern Indian Ocean, even though no concrete evidence or full information has supported this conclusion yet.

China Life, China's largest insurance company, said it has 32 clients on board the flight and estimated total compensation at around 9 million yuan ($1.46 million). The company had paid 4.17 million yuan in compensation to families of seven clients by Tuesday.

Sunshine Insurance has compensated 500,000 yuan for a family of three, who were all aboard the flight. The compensation stemmed from welfare insurance offered by one of the family member's employer.

A US-based law firm, Ribbeck Law, said it expected to represent families of more than 50 percent of the passengers on board the flight, but declined to give details on how many families have sought their representation in the case.

Though both Boeing and Malaysia Airlines were named in the filing, the focus of the case will be on Boeing, Ribbeck's lawyers said, as they believe that the incident was caused by mechanical failure.

The law firm has filed a petition on behalf of an Indonesian relative of a passenger on the plane, which is meant to secure evidence of possible design and manufacturing defects that may have contributed to the disaster.