Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Thai Satellite Finds 300 Floating Objects in Indian Ocean Search Area

Pilot and crewmen fly at high altitude aboard a Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) AP-3C Orion aircraft after searching for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 over the southern Indian OceanReuters

A Thai satellite has detected 300 floating objects in the southern Indian Ocean near the search area for the missing Malaysian Airlines MH370 airliner.

According to Thailand's Geo Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISDA), the objects were spotted around 2,700km (1,680 miles) southwest of Perth by the "Thaichote" satellite.

Anond Snidvongs, director of GISDA, said that the satellite images showed "300 objects of various sizes" in the southern Indian Ocean. The images were taken on 24 March and took two days to process before being relayed to Malaysian authorities.

Anond said the objects were 200km (125 miles) from the search area where a French satellite had spotted 122 objects.

Whether the floating objects are from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 remain unclear.

The search for the aircraft, now focused on a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean, has resumed after a temporary suspension due to bad weather.

Eleven aircraft and five ships are involved in the search of the southern Indian Ocean area, officials said.

British company Immarsat used new data techniques to reveal that the plane concluded its eight-hour flight by plummeting into the southern Indian Ocean.

Grief has replaced hope for the families of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 passengers after a text-message was sent declaring that not one of the 239 passengers aboard the airliner had survived.