Kuala Lumpur: China has reported the sighting of a large object in the southern Indian Ocean which could be related to the missing jetliner, Malaysia said today, as the desperate search for the plane entered its third week.
"The news that I just received is that the Chinese ambassador received satellite image of floating object in the southern corridor and they will be sending ships to verify," Defence and Transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.
"Beijing is expected to make an announcement in a few hours," said Hishammuddin, who got the news while he was addressing his daily briefing.
China is sending two ships to the area to examine the floating object, which according to the satellite image is 22.5 metres long and 13 metres wide, he said, quoting Chinese government officials.
His comments came as several Australian military jets resumed their search this morning to find any trace of two objects seen earlier in satellite imagery nearly 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth.
At least six search flights were involved in the search operations, including two private jets. Two Australian planes returned without spotting anything.
