Malaysian plane search area changed: Australia

Australia says the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines passenger plane has shifted to an area about 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) northeast of the previous search zone in the southern Indian Ocean.

Australian officials said on Friday that the new search area for the jet that went missing nearly three weeks ago is established because of a “credible new lead” that the plane was flying faster than first thought before it plunged into the Indian Ocean.

Ten aircrafts from six countries — Australia, China, Japan, New Zealand, South Korea and the United States — changed their paths to the new area northeast of where they have been searching for a week, far off western Australia.

According to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), five Chinese ships and an Australian naval vessel have also headed for the new zone.

AMSA said that the new information is based on continuing analysis of “radar data between the South China Sea and the Strait of Malacca before radar contact was lost.”

“It indicated that the aircraft was travelling faster than previously estimated, resulting in increased fuel usage and reducing the possible distance the aircraft travelled south into the Indian Ocean,” AMSA added.

The development came a day after Thailand reported a satellite sighting of hundreds of floating objects.

Japan also announced on Friday that Japanese satellite images have shown around 10 floating objects off Australia that are “very probably” from the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. The objects were spotted in remote waters about 2,500 kilometers (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth.

Earlier satellite data from Australia, China and France had shown floating objects possibly related to the missing plane, but nothing has so far been retrieved.

The Boeing 777, carrying nearly 240 people, disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8.