Two objects that may be wreckage from missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have been spotted floating in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia.

The Australian government released pictures taken by satellite on March 16 of possible plane debris seen around 2,500km (1,500miles) southwest of Perth - one of the most remote areas of the planet.

One of the objects is estimated to be 78ft (24m) in size, the other 15ft (five metres), and the sighting of the objects was said by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott to be 'credible and potentially important'.

 A Royal Australian Air Force surveillance aircraft has already completed a sweep of the search area and failed to find the objects. It was reportedly hampered by poor visibility.

Andrew Nelson, a reporter for A Current Affair on Nine Network Australia, who travelled on board, said: 'From what we saw at the time there was no debris visible to us in that area.'

The RAAF crew today was 'very confident they will get a result' despite today's 'very treacherous conditions', Nine reported.

Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Thursday that 'we have a new and credible lead' that 'gives us hope'.

The credibility of the sighting is based partly on the fact that a satellite signal suggested the plane was somewhere in two broad arcs - either to the northwest towards Kazakhstan or to the southwest in the Indian Ocean.

The two objects are at the far end of the southerly corridor.

U.S, Australian, New Zealand, Malaysian and UK search aircraft and naval vessels have been dispatched to the area, with significant radar pings reportedly being returned to one U.S surveillance plane from the objects' location.

The Royal Navy's HMS Echo is part of the search armada, which totals 25 aircraft and 18 ships.

According to the Royal Navy website HMS Echo is mid-way through an 18-month deployment to improve charts used by seafarers across the world.

The British ship has been in the Gulf conducting hydrographic surveying - but will now join the search for flight MH370.

A Norwegian ship is also part of the search operation, and arrived on Thursday morning.

One expert said it could take two days to find the objects and confirm what they are.

Michael Daniel, a retired United States Federal Aviation Administration official told The Straits Times: 'If they have a strong feeling or indication that the debris belongs to the aircraft, one of the first things authorities will do is drop sonar buoys in the water.

'If the black box is there, the buoys should be able to pick up the signals. This could take up to 48 hours but it all depends on how near or far the ships and other assets are.'

The area is so far away - a distance from Perth equivalent to that from London to Moscow - that planes will only be able to spend a limited amount of time there before needing to return to base to refuel.

John Young of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said at an afternoon press conference that the aircraft already in the area would be joined by three others later on Thursday. A merchant ship dispatched in the search operation was also due to arrive around 6p.m. Canberra time, 10am UK time.

The imagery, from U.S. company DigitalGlobe Inc, was progressively captured by satellites passing over the area and analysed by the Australian Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation.

Commercial satellites have been tasked with collecting higher resolution images of the floating objects.

Mr Young said visibility was poor in the area, hampering both air and satellite efforts and he estimated the water in the location where the debris was spotted to be several thousand feet deep.

'I must emphasize that these objects may be very difficult to locate,' he told reporters.




-Culled from Guardian UK