MH370: Unidentified objects recovered by ships in the search for MH370

Australian and Chinese ships in the search and rescue (SAR) operation for MH370 have recovered unidentified objects from the Indian Ocean.

In a report by Bloomberg, Australia’s HMAS Success and China’s Haixun 01 retrieved “a number of objects from the ocean but so far no objects confirmed to be related” to the missing plane, the Australian Maritime Safety Administration (AMSA) said in a statement.

This marks the first time that objects have been picked up.

U.K Daily Mail cited Chinese media as saying that three objects that were found turned out to be pieces of rubbish, reports Bloomberg.

A total of 9 ships have been deployed to the revised search zone which covers 252,000 square kilometres, reported AMSA.

Additionally, eight aircrafts sighted multiple items yesterday at the search area.

“Suspicious objects” of white, red, and orange were sighted by Chinese Ship Jinggangshan, which carried two helicopters, joined Haizun 01 in the search area, reported official Xinhua news.

A New Zealand P3 Orion patrol plane found 11 objects in a small radius of 1,600 kilometers west of Perth, said Air Vice-Marshall Kevin Short, commander of joint forced New Zealand in a telephone interview with Bloomberg Saturday.

The news agency also reported that the objects were mostly rectangular, white and less than 1 meter (3.3 feet) in size, there was a larger, slightly blue object and another colored orange and about the size of a shipping buoy.

Radar and performance data has recently shown the plane flew between South China Sea and Malacca Strait, flying faster and therefore using more fuel, therefore the plane may not have crashed so far south as estimated earlier, authorities said.