MH370: Aircraft, vessels deployed to verify objects found in Southern Indian Ocean - Hishammuddin

Aircraft and vessels have been deployed to verify information that objects possibly related to a missing Malaysian airliner have been found in the southern Indian Ocean, acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said on Thursday.

Speaking to reporters before meeting an Australian delegation at the Sama-Sama Hotel here, he said the information was a new lead in finding the aircraft as the search-and-rescue operation entered its 13th day on Thursday.

"As I have been doing from day one, we follow every single lead. Let's just hope this is a positive development," he said, adding that it was too early to confirm where the debris was found.

Asked what type of debris had been found and how long it would take to verify it, Hishammuddin said: "We won't know. The aircraft and vessels have been deployed.

"Like we have done with the images from the China satellite and other debris that were leads earlier. We are using the same format."

Hishammuddin declined to disclose what information was furnished by the Australian government on Thursday.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said in Canberra on Thursday that satellite imagery had shown two objects that could be related to the Malaysian airliner that disappeared on March 8, according to Reuters news agency.

The news agency quoted Abbot as saying in his address to Parliament that "new and credible information has come to light in relation to the search ... in the south Indian Ocean."

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370, with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, disappeared about an hour after leaving the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8. It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.

Thursday's announcement in Australia comes on the 13th day of a multinational search for the airline which, according to satellite data, had veered off course over the South China Sea and headed for the Indian Ocean.

The area of the search was extended to cover a large tract west of Malaysia, including the Indian Ocean, when it was learned that the plane had flown for seven hours after that.

The search then focused on two corridors, namely the northern corridor which stretches from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, and the southern corridor which stretches from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.