Latest information on search in southern Indian Ocean for missing Malaysia Airlines jet

The last photo taken of the Boeing 777 9M-MRO of Malaysian Air, the missing aircraft flight 370, in 2011 at the Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. (Wikipedia photo)

Chinese and Australian search planes spotted several objects in the southern Indian Ocean on Monday that could be debris from the missing Malaysian jetliner. A summary of the latest information in the investigation:

THE OBJECTS

An Australian P3 Orion aircraft has located two objects in the search zone some 2,500 kilometres (1,550 miles) southwest of Australia – the first grey or green and circular, the second orange and rectangular. An Australian navy supply ship, the HMAS Success, could reach the objects within several hours or by Tuesday morning, Malaysia’s Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.

A Chinese plane crew, meanwhile, spotted two large objects and several smaller ones spread across several square kilometres (miles), Xinhua News Agency reported. At least one of the items _ a white, square-shaped object _ was captured on a camera aboard the plane. A Chinese icebreaker, the Snow Dragon, was headed toward the area and would arrive Tuesday morning.

BLACK BOX LOCATOR

The U.S. Pacific command said it was sending a Towed Pinger Locator to the region in case a debris field is found. The equipment, which is pulled behind a vessel at slow speeds, has highly sensitive listening capability that can detect “pings” from a plane’s so-called black box down to a depth of 20,000 feet (6,100 metres).

An Australian navy support vessel, the Ocean Shield, equipped with acoustic detection equipment, was also moving into the search zone and would arrive in three or four days.

SEARCH EQUIPMENT

Australia, China, the U.S., Japan and New Zealand have all contributed planes or ships to the search effort in the southern Indian Ocean. At least 14 planes and nine ships are involved or headed toward the search zone.