Flight MH370: Oz, Chinese ships rush to retrieve new objects found in search zone

Supporters of Malaysian opposition People's Justice Party hold up a banner reading 'Pray for MH370' outside a nomination centre in Bangi, Kuala Lumpur. Photo / AP

Australian and Chinese planes yesterday spotted several objects in an area identified by multiple satellite images as containing possible debris from the missing Malaysian jet.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the crew on board an Australian P3 Orion had located two objects in the search zone - the first grey or green and circular, the second orange and rectangular.

An Australian ship, HMAS Success, was on the scene last night trying to locate and recover the objects.

Image 1 of 10: RNZAF Flight Lieutenant Dave Smith from 5 Squadron co-pilots the P-3K2 Orion in support of the AMSA-led search for Malaysia Airlines MH370. Photo / Credit Australian Defence Force

Abbott told Parliament in Canberra a US Navy Poseidon, a second Australian Orion and a Japanese Orion are also en route to the search area.

"I caution again ... that we don't know whether any of these objects are from MH370. They could be flotsam.

"Nevertheless we are hopeful that we can recover these objects soon and they will take us a step closer to resolving this tragic mystery."

Separately, the crew of two Chinese IL-76 aircraft combing the search zone observed two large objects and several smaller ones spread across several square kilometres, Xinhua News Agency reported. At least one of the items, a white, square-shaped object, was captured on a camera.

China has redirected the icebreaker Snow Dragon towards the latest find, and it was due to arrive early today.

Six other Chinese ships have been directed to head for the search zone along with 20 fishing vessels that have been asked to help.

The new sightings come a day after a French satellite picked up signs of what appeared to be debris - following images earlier recorded by Chinese and US satellites.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It was carrying 239 people, including two New Zealanders.

Additional aircraft, from China and Japan, yesterday joined a wider search for any wreckage from the jet.

Those missions were hampered by bad weather expected to deteriorate across the vast 68,500sq km search area in the notoriously storm-prone region being combed by military and civilian planes operating out of Perth, 2500km distant.

Visibility is expected to suffer with cloud and rain forecast.

The French satellite data has complicated an already arduous hunt.

The radar echoes indicated possible objects floating about 850km north of the present search area, forcing co-ordinators to try to trace that sighting while still criss-crossing the area in which other debris was photographed by American and Chinese satellites.

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said the French images fell outside the area in which MH370 was most likely to have crashed - if it did dive into the southern Indian Ocean.

"We have to check out all the options," he told ABC Radio. "We're just clutching at whatever little piece of information comes along to try and find a place where we might be able to concentrate the efforts."

• A Malaysia Airlines flight made an emergency landing in Hong Kong yesterday, after a generator failed.

The flight, from Kuala Lumpur to Seoul with 271 passengers on board, was diverted after the main generator supplying electrical power failed.

- Additional reporting: Vaimoana Tapaleao and agencies