China Spots New Possible Missing Jet Debris

{{China said on Saturday it had a new satellite image of what could be wreckage from a missing Malaysian airliner, as more planes and ships headed to join an international search operation scouring some of the remotest seas on Earth.}}

The latest possible lead came as the search for Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 entered its third week, with still no confirmed trace found of the Boeing 777 or the 239 people on board.

The new potential sighting was dramatically announced by Malaysia’s acting transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, after he was handed a note with details during a news conference in Kuala Lumpur, scooping the official announcement from China.

“Chinese ships have been dispatched to the area,” Hishammuddin told reporters.

China said the object was 22 meters long (74ft) and 13 meters (43ft) wide, and spotted around 120 km (75 miles) “south by west” of potential debris reported by Australia off its west coast in the forbidding waters of the southern Indian Ocean.

The image was captured by the high-definition Earth observation satellite “Gaofen-1” early on March 18, two days after the Australian satellite picture was taken, China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) said on its website.

There was no official comment on whether the two images could show the same object.

Flight MH370 vanished from civilian radar screens early on March 8, less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur on a scheduled flight to Beijing.

Investigators believe someone on board shut off the plane’s communications systems, and partial military radar tracking showed it turning west and re-crossing the Malay Peninsula, apparently under the control of a skilled pilot.

That has led them to focus on hijacking or sabotage, but they have not ruled out technical problems.

{A screen shows the questions from family members of passengers onboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 after a routine briefing given by Malaysia’s government and military representatives at Lido Hotel}