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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
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| Malaysia plane search: China checks new 'debris' images | Malaysia plane search: China checks new 'debris' images |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| China is investigating new satellite images of debris in the southern Indian Ocean, potentially from missing flight MH370, Malaysian officials say. | China is investigating new satellite images of debris in the southern Indian Ocean, potentially from missing flight MH370, Malaysian officials say. |
| Malaysia's acting transport minister read out the news as he was handed it during at his daily briefing, saying one element of debris was 22.5m by 13m. | |
| He said the Chinese government would give more details on Saturday. | He said the Chinese government would give more details on Saturday. |
| Flight MH370 dropped out of contact an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on 8 March carrying 239 people. | Flight MH370 dropped out of contact an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on 8 March carrying 239 people. |
| Malaysian officials suspect the plane was deliberately taken off course. | |
| Transcript | |
| Malaysia's Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein broke off the question and answer segment of his briefing in Kuala Lumpur to say: "The news that I just received is that the Chinese ambassador received satellite image of floating objects in the southern corridor and they will be sending ships to verify." | |
| He added: "Beijing is expected to make an announcement in a few hours." | |
| China is one of 26 nations involved in the search for flight MH370. Most of those on board the plane were Chinese nationals. | |
| Planes and vessels are already searching the southern Indian Ocean following earlier satellite images this week that detected possible debris 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south-west of Perth in Australia. | |
| The search in the Indian Ocean is being led by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa). | |
| It despatched six planes to the area on Saturday, to search an area roughly the size of Denmark. Additional vessels supplied by China, Japan and the United Kingdom are due to join them in the search. | |
| The first plane returned with no success in finding debris. | |
| Before being handed the note at his briefing, Mr Hussein said that all means were being pursued to narrow the search corridor and that planes intended to search 10,500 sq nautical miles on Saturday. | |
| But he said the conditions were "very challenging", with strong currents and rough seas, and a tropical cyclone warning that could affect ships involved in the search. | |
| Mr Hussein also said investigations of the plane's cargo manifest did "not show any link to anything that may have contribution to the plane's disappearance". | |
| He also referred to the angry scenes as Malaysian officials briefed Chinese relatives in Beijing. | |
| Mr Hussein admitted the briefing had been "tense" and an investigation was under way to try to improve the situation. | |
| The briefing also touched on a reported transcript of communications between the pilots of the plane that was carried in Britain's Daily Telegraph. | |
| The Telegraph's transcript showed routine communications, ending with the fateful final words of co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid: "All right, good night." | |
| Experts say only two elements appeared of any note, although they stressed it was important not to read too much into them. One was that the final message at 01:07 about the plane's altitude - at 35,000ft - was an unnecessary repeat of a message six minutes earlier. | |
| The other was that the loss of communication with the plane occurred at the handover point of Malaysian to Vietnamese air control. | |
| At the press briefing, Mr Hussein said the transcript "does not indicate anything abnormal". | |
| Another Malaysian official at the briefing said the transcript was "not accurate", without specifying what was wrong with the document. |