Rescue ships trying to locate 'multiple, colourful objects' suspected to be MH370 debris

Chinese patrol ships are reportedly trying to locate multiple objects of various colours, which could be the potential debris from the ill-fated Malaysian passenger jet.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is heading the entire mission, said that the weather was expected initially to be suitable for searching, but conditions were expected to deteriorate later in the day.

According to news.com.au, a total of eight planes will be part of the search on Saturday, including three Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orions, a Japanese Coast Guard jet, a Japanese P3 Orion, a Royal New Zealand Air Force P3 Orion, a Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force Ilyushin IL-76, and one civil jet acting as a communications relay.

AMSA said that it was not known how much flotsam, such as from fishing activities, is ordinarily there, but at least one distinctive fishing object had been identified.

New Zealand Air Vice-Marshal Kevin Short said that one of the objects appeared to be a fishing buoy but the others were white, rectangular in shape and floating just below the surface, each no larger than a metre in length.

Short said that the objects could be verified only when they are picked up by a ship for physical examination.

The search efforts have been pumped up after Thai satellite captured images of about 300 floating objects in the southern Indian Ocean in 24 hours of French authorities identifying similar objects in the same search zone.

The Malaysia Airline Flight MH370, carrying 239 people onboard, has been missing since March 8, when it went off radar shortly after take off from Kuala Lumpur and it has been presumed lost after plunging in the Indian Ocean.