Australian officials confirmed that a Chinese aircraft had spotted three objects in a new search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet off Australia's west coast on Saturday.
"AMSA has tasked the China Maritime Safety Administration ship Haixun 01 to locate and investigate the objects," Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement.
"The objects cannot be verified or discounted as being from MH370 until they are relocated and recovered by ships," the statement added.
Earlier, China's Xinhua reported that a Chinese aircraft has spotted the white, red and orange objects.
Malaysia's Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters near Kuala Lumpur after meeting several families of passengers on the plane that he's hoping for some news soon, according the The Associated Press.
The southern Indian Ocean is now the main focus of the search, where unidentified pieces of debris have been spotted by New Zealand and Australian Air Force Orions.
- F. Brinley Bruton with Reuters
