The Australian agencies involved in searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have found two floating objects, believed to be plane debris, in the southern Indian Ocean near Australia.

One of the objects measured 24m, while the other was about 5m-long.

Australian authorities believe the objects could be possible wreckages of the ill-fated jet that disappeared off radars less than an hour after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on 8 March.

Malaysia’s Minister of Defence and acting Minister of Transport Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said: "I can confirm we have a new lead.

"As we have been doing from day one, we have been following every single lead, and this time I just hope that it is a positive development."

"As we have been doing from day one, we have been following every single lead, and this time I just hope that it is a positive development.

"It is too early to say which area and whether it is in the sea. Every lead is a hope. We want to verify, we want to corroborate.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) is coordinating the search for the missing aircraft, with assistance from the Australian Defence Force, the New Zealand Air Force and the US Navy.

AMSA’s Rescue Coordination Centre (RCC) Australia received satellite imagery of objects.

AMSA emergency response division general manager John Young said that a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Orion aircraft arrived at the scene.

Three other aircraft, including a New Zealand Air Force Orion and a US Navy P-8A Poseidon will be involved in the investigation, Young added.

RCC Australia tasked an RAAF C-130 Hercules aircraft with dropping datum marker buoys, which will provide information about water movement to assist in drift modelling.

Defence Technology