DHAKA: Australia has sent aircraft to investigate two objects spotted by satellite floating in the southern Indian Ocean that could be debris from a Malaysian jetliner missing with 239 people on board.

Australia prime minister Tony Abbott said on Thursday, reports The Straits Times.

No confirmed wreckage from Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has been found since it vanished from air traffic control screens off Malaysia’s east coast early on March 8, less than an hour after taking off.

‘New and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean,’ Abbott told the Australian parliament.

‘The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) has received information based on satellite imagery of objects possibly related to the search.’

‘Following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified,’ he said.

Mr Abbott said he had already spoken with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak and cautioned that the objects had yet to be identified.

‘The task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and it may turn out they are not related to the search for MH370,’ Abbott said.

BDST: 1504 HRS, MAR 20, 2014