BREAKING NEWS: Chinese ships searching for missing flight MH370 retrieve objects from the Southern Indian Ocean as Malaysian minister tells distraught relatives: 'Miracles do happen'

• Chinese military plane detected three floating objects in the Indian Ocean
• The sighting came around 1,150 miles off the coast of Perth
• One of China's navy vessel is scouring the area searching specifically for plane surfaces, oil slicks and life jackets
• Search area for flight MH370 has switched 700 miles north of original site
• Malaysian minister tells families of the missing passengers that 'miracles do happen' as he refused to give up all hope of finding survivors

By Lizzie Parry

Ships searching for missing flight MH370 have retrieved objects from the Indian Ocean for the first time since the aircraft disappeared more than three weeks ago, it has emerged.
Sources said two ships - on Australian and one Chinese - were able to pick up 'a number of objects' during today's search, CBS News reported.
However Australian officials who are coordinating efforts in the South Indian Ocean, around 1,150 miles off the coast of Perth, maintain no items linked to the missing passengers jet have been retrieved from the water.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said in a statement: 'So far no objects confirmed to be related to MH370 have been recovered.'

Chinese aircraft scouring a new search area in the Indian Ocean spotted three suspicious items, coloured red, white and orange, floating around 1,150 miles off the coast of Perth

Defence Minister Hishamuddin Hussin spent time today visiting family members of those missing on board flight MH370

Crew members on board the Chinese ship Jinggangshan scours the target search area early today, in search of potential debris, spotted by aircraft

A boat and helicopter from the Chinese Maritime Safety Administration patrol ship (left) and crew on board a Chinese search ship hunt for a sign of the missing plane, which disappeared four weeks ago

Royal Australian Air Force pilot Flight Lieutenant Russell Adams speaks to the media after his AP-3C Orion returned from searching for debris or wreckage of the missing Flight MH370 in Perth. He reported they did not see or locate any wreckage searching in reasonably good weather with a vision of four or five kilometres

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority objects spotted by aircraft cannot be verified or discounted as being from Flight 370 until they are relocated and recovered by ships

The crew onboard a Royal Malaysian Air Force C-130 Hercules unload the aircraft after it landed at RAAF Base Pearce to to help with the search for debris or wreckage. Five search aircraft yesterday spotted possible debris in the new search area

The discovery comes after a Chinese military plane hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 spotted suspicious red, white and orange objects floating in the South Indian Ocean.
Australian officials coordinating the operation moved the search area 680 miles north east yesterday - it was shifted after new radar data analysis suggested the jet flew faster than originally thought and would have used up more fuel, which might have reduced the distance it travelled.
The Chinese navy vessel Jinggangshan, which carries two helicopters, reached the new search area early today where it was expected to focus on searching for plane surfaces, oil slicks and life jackets.

More...

• Five military planes spot 'multiple objects of various colours' in Indian Ocean - 700 miles NORTH of previous Flight MH370 search zone
• Lifting the lid on the black box: Laboratory that makes flight data recorders reveals the secrets of the device that could solve the MH370 mystery

A Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 flying over the new site detected the floating items - which bear the colours of the missing plane - today around 1,150 miles west of Perth, the official Xinhua news agency said.
That sighting follows reports of 'multiple objects of various colours' by international flight crews yesterday, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA).
Some looked like they were from fishing boats and nothing could be confirmed until they were recovered by ships, it added.
'We're hopeful to relocate some of the objects we were seeing yesterday,' Royal New Zealand Air Force Squadron Leader Flight Lieutenant Leon Fox said before flying out to the search zone on an Orion P-3.

'Miracles do happen, remote or otherwise, and that is the hope that the families want me to convey not only to the Malaysian government, MAS, but also to the world at large'
- Malaysian minister Hishammuddin Hussein

'Hopefully some of the ships in the area will be able to start picking it up and give us an indication of what we were seeing.'
An Australian pilot returning from the search is said to have told reporters that objects spotted yesterday by Chinese crews have been marked with buoys to enable ships to locate them easily.
Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said while nothing has yet been recovered, he is hopeful of news soon.
He said his country was committed to seeing the investigation through to its final conclusion.
'What they (relatives) want from us is a commitment to continue the search, and that I have given, not only on behalf of the Malaysian government but the so many nations involved,' he said.
'For me as the minister responsible, this is the hardest part of my life, at the moment,' he added.
He said he refuses to give the families false hope, but was unwilling to take away the last hope of finding any of the 239 passengers and crew alive, CNN reported.
'Miracles do happen, remote or otherwise, and that is the hope that the families want me to convey not only to the Malaysian government, MAS, but also to the world at large,' he said.

A crew member on board a Chinese IL-76 scans the target area in the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines passenger jet, which disappeared from radar screens on March 8 as it travelled from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing

An image of potential debris emerged yesterday after military planes spotted 'multiple objects of various colours' in a new search area in the Indian Ocean

A Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion taking off from the Royal Australian Air Force Pearce air base in Perth as the search for missing flight MH370 enters a fourth week

U.S. LAWYERS WILL FLY TO PERTH AS MULTI- MILLION LAWSUIT IS FILED

A U.S. law firm preparing a multi-million dollar case against Malaysia Airlines and Boeing is said to be sending teams to Perth.
Lawyers from aviation accident litigation experts Ribbeck Law Chartered, are expected to arrive in Australia in the coming weeks to meet families of the passengers of flight MH370, the Herald Sun reported.
On Tuesday a petition for discovery was filed against Boeing, the manufacturer of the aircraft, and Malaysian Airlines, the operator of the plane, the Chicago-based law firm revealed this week.
The petition, filed in Cook County, Illinois Circuit Court, asks a judge to order Malaysia Airlines and Boeing to hand over any evidence that may point to possible design or mechanical defects in the plane.
The filing initiates a multimillion dollar lawsuit against the airline and Boeing by the passengers' families.
'We believe that both defendants named are responsible for the disaster of Flight MH 370,' Monica Kelly, the lead Ribbeck lawyer in the case, said in the statement.
The petition was filed on behalf of Januari Siregar, whose son was on the flight.
Ms Kelly said additional action may be taken against other potential defendants, companies who designed or manufactured component parts of the plane, that may have failed.

Ribbeck is also asking that U.S. scientists be included in the search for wreckage and bodies, the firm said.
A spokesman for Boeing declined comment. A spokesman for Malaysian Airlines could not immediately be reached for comment.

Ms Kelly said a team will fly to Perth as soon as authorities confirmed debris from the plane had been found.
She said the firm expects to represent around half of the families of those on board flight MH370 and that the case has to be heard in Chicago, the home of Boeing's headquarters.
She said over the past week the firm had been contacted by dozens of relatives from Indonesia, Malaysia and China wanting to be part of the legal action it initiated this week.

Last year it emerged there may be cracking and corrosion problems with the fuselage skin of the Boeing 777.

The US Federal Aviation Administration issued a directive saying the problem could lead to rapid decompression and loss of structural integrity of the plane.

A sudden drop in cabin pressure could cause the crew and passengers to become unconscious, it added.

He told reporters near Kuala Lumpur, after meeting several families of passengers on the plane, that there was no new information on the objects, which could just be regular debris, or could be from the missing plane.

'I've got to wait to get the reports on whether they have retrieved those objects... Those will give us some indication,' said Hishammuddin, who was accompanied by his wife and children as he visited the relatives at a hotel in Putrajaya, Malaysia.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said that objects cannot be verified or discounted as being from Flight 370 until they are relocated and recovered by ships.
'It is not known how much flotsam, such as from fishing activities, is ordinarily there. At least one distinctive fishing object has been identified,' it said.
The three objects spotted by the Chinese plane Saturday were white, red and orange in color, the Xinhua news report said.
Flight 370 disappeared March 8 while bound from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and investigators have been puzzling over what might have happened aboard the plane, with speculation ranging from equipment failure and a botched hijacking to terrorism or an act by one of the pilots.
The latter was fueled by reports the pilot's home flight simulator had files deleted from it, but Hishimmuddin said checks, including ones by the FBI, turned up no new information.
'What I know is that there is nothing sinister from the simulators but of course that will have to be confirmed by the chief of police,' he said.
Australia's Bureau of Meteorology said a cold front would bring rain, low clouds and reduced visibility over the southern part of the search area, with moderate winds and swells of up to 2 metres (6 feet).
Conditions are expected to improve tomorrow, although rain, drizzle and low clouds are still likely.
Newly analyzed satellite data shifted the search zone on Friday, raising hopes searchers may be closer to getting physical evidence that that the plane crashed in the Indian Ocean with 239 people aboard. 
That would also help narrow the hunt for the wreckage and the plane's black boxes, which could contain clues to what caused the plane - flying to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur - to be so far off-course.
The U.S. Navy has already sent equipment that can detect pings from the back boxes, and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters in Sydney that the equipment would be put on an Australian naval ship soon. 
'It will be taken to the most prospective search area and if there is good reason to deploy it, it will be deployed,' he said, without giving a timeframe.

 

Australian authorities say Malaysia plane search shifts north

Australian officials have said a new analysis of radar data by investigators in Kuala Lumpur suggests the Boeing 777 had flown faster and ran out of fuel more quickly than previously estimated

Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said while nothing has yet been recovered, he is hopeful of news soon

Hishamuddin Hussin, the face of the Malaysian search mission, hugs a relative of one of the passengers missing on board the Boeing 777

The minister's family accompanied him to visit family members waiting for news at the hotel in Putrajaya

Malaysians are chafing at scathing Chinese criticism over the lost MH370 passenger jet, with fed-up officials, media and citizens now hitting back after being assailed as a nation of incompetent liars and murderers

Other officials have said it could take days for the ship - the Ocean Shield - to reach the search area.
The newly targeted zone is nearly 700 miles north east of sites the searchers have crisscrossed for the past week.
The redeployment came after analysts determined that the Boeing 777 may have been traveling faster than earlier estimates and would therefore have run out of fuel sooner, officials said.
Search planes were sent out today from Perth, Australia, in a staggered manner, so at least one plane will be over the area for most of the daylight hours.
It is also closer than the previous search area, with a flying time of two hours each way, allowing for five hours of search time, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.
The Australian statement said five P-3 Orions - three from Australia and one each from Japan and New Zealand - plus a Japanese coast guard jet, the Chinese Ilyushin IL-76, and one civilian jet acting as a communications relay, took part Saturday.
Mr Abbott said the job of locating the debris was still difficult. 'We should not underestimate the difficulty of this work - it is an extraordinarily remote location.'
The area spans about 123,000 square miles, roughly the size of Poland.
In most places, depths range from about 6,560 feet to 13,120 feet, although the much deeper Diamantina trench edges the search area.
The hunt for the plane focused first on the Gulf of Thailand, along the plane's planned path.
But when radar data showed it had veered sharply west, the search moved to the Andaman Sea, off the western coast of Malaysia, before pivoting to the southern Indian Ocean, southwest of Australia.
That change was based on analysis of satellite data. But officials said a reexamination and refinement of that analysis indicated the aircraft was traveling faster than previously estimated, resulting in increased fuel use and reducing the possible distance it could have flown before going down.

 

Malaysia airline officials reveal images of 122 floating objects

Families of those missing on board flight MH370 shout slogans during a protest outside Lido Hotel in Beijing today The sign (right) reads: 'Son, your father's and mother's hearts are broken. Come back quickly'

The protest was also held to thank the overseas Chinese who protested in front of the Malaysian Embassy in London on Thursday

Just as a car loses fuel efficiency when driving at high speeds, a plane will get less out of a tank of fuel when it flies faster.
Relatives and friends of the passengers said they were tortured by the uncertainty over the fate of their loved ones, as they wait for hard evidence that the plane had crashed.
'This is the trauma of maybe he's dead, maybe he's not. Maybe he's still alive and we need to find him. Maybe he died within the first hour of the flight, and we don't know,' Sarah Bajc, the American girlfriend of U.S. passenger Philip Wood, said in an interview in Beijing.
'I mean, there's absolutely no way for me to reconcile that in my heart,' she said.
If investigators can determine the plane went down in the newly targeted zone, recovery of its flight data and cockpit voice recorders could be complicated.
While investigators appear to be focusing on an area where much of the sea floor is about 6,600 feet below the surface, depths may reach a maximum of about 19,700 feet at its easternmost edge, she said.

The protest comes as the search for the Boeing 777 enters a fourth week

Relatives of the missing Chinese passengers have condemned the Malaysian government and its handling of the search mission

As the Malaysian government comes under strong criticism from China, home to more than 150 of the passengers, relatives of the missing have accused the government of 'delays and deception'.
More than 20 Chinese relatives staged a brief protest on Saturday outside the Lido hotel in Beijing where families have been staying for the past three weeks, demanding evidence of the plane's fate.
The peaceful protest came just days after dozens of angry relatives clashed with police after trying to storm the Malaysian embassy.
Many of Saturday's protesters carried slogans demanding the 'truth' about their lost loved ones.
'They don't have any direct evidence,' said Steve Wang, who had a relative on the flight.
'(Their conclusion) is only based on mathematical (analysis) and they used an uncertain mathematical model. Then they come to the conclusion that our relatives are all gone.'
'They're all still alive, my son and everyone onboard! The plane is still there too! They're hiding it,' demonstrator Wen Wancheng, 63, yelled.
His only son, Wen Yongsheng, is a passenger. He held up a banner that read: 'Son, mom and dad's hearts are torn to pieces. Come home soon!'