Search
teams hunting for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have spotted
several objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean.
The crew of a Chinese plane has seen "suspicious" objects in the search area, Chinese state media said, while the Australian government confirmed its teams had also seen floating material.
The news followed recent releases of satellite images and data relating to what could be debris.
Teams are continuing to scour the search zone - more than 2,000km (1,200 miles) south-west of Perth - to try to identify the objects
Here is what we know about what has been spotted.
Object 24m in length
Australian officials released images last week showing two
whitish objects on or just under the surface of the ocean. They were
spotted by satellite on 16 March, but not released until days later
because it had taken time to analyse them, Australian Air Commodore John
McGarry said.
Australia's Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation, which carried out the analysis, said the larger of the objects could measure up to 24m (79ft) long.
"The indication to me is of objects that are a reasonable size and probably awash with water, moving up and down over the surface,'' John Young, general manager of the emergency response division of Amsa said.
Mr Young added that the debris was spotted along a busy shipping route and could be containers that had fallen off cargo vessels. However, the larger object appeared to be longer than a container, he added.
Object 5m in length
On the same day, a second object was also spotted - estimated to be about 5m (16ft) long.
2. Images of debris from 18 March
Australia's Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation, which carried out the analysis, said the larger of the objects could measure up to 24m (79ft) long.
"The indication to me is of objects that are a reasonable size and probably awash with water, moving up and down over the surface,'' John Young, general manager of the emergency response division of Amsa said.
Mr Young added that the debris was spotted along a busy shipping route and could be containers that had fallen off cargo vessels. However, the larger object appeared to be longer than a container, he added.
Object 5m in length
Object measuring 22m by 13m
Latest image taken by China's Gaofen-1 satellite
On Saturday 22 March, China released a satellite image showing an object near to the area already being searched.
The grainy image was released by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
The Xinhua state news agency said the image was taken at about 04:00 GMT on 18 March and showed objects about 120km "south by west" from the site of possible debris shown in the satellite images from 16 March.
The image was taken by the Gaofen-1 high-resolution optical Earth observation satellite of China's National Space Administration.
3. Satellite data from 21 March
Latest image taken by China's Gaofen-1 satelliteThe grainy image was released by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.
The Xinhua state news agency said the image was taken at about 04:00 GMT on 18 March and showed objects about 120km "south by west" from the site of possible debris shown in the satellite images from 16 March.
The image was taken by the Gaofen-1 high-resolution optical Earth observation satellite of China's National Space Administration.
Then, a day later, on Sunday 23 March, France's foreign ministry said data from a French satellite showed possible debris located about 930km (575 miles) north of where the objects reported by China and Australia.
Radar echoes had picked up several objects about 2,300km (1,430 miles) from Perth on 21 March, a statement added.
The data was passed on to Australian authorities in the form of "satellite-generated radar echoes" rather than images. Radar works by sending out radio waves or microwaves and listening for echoes that bounce back.
Malaysian officials later confirmed they had received a further set of images from French satellites, this time captured by cameras. These images were taken on 23 March and have been relayed to the Australian authorities coordinating the search.
4. Objects sighted by Chinese plane on 24 March
Radar echoes had picked up several objects about 2,300km (1,430 miles) from Perth on 21 March, a statement added.
The data was passed on to Australian authorities in the form of "satellite-generated radar echoes" rather than images. Radar works by sending out radio waves or microwaves and listening for echoes that bounce back.
Malaysian officials later confirmed they had received a further set of images from French satellites, this time captured by cameras. These images were taken on 23 March and have been relayed to the Australian authorities coordinating the search.
"When two of our IL-76 planes were searching the relevant suspected sea area, one of the planes photographed white, square floating objects," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
"At present we are unable to confirm whether the floating objects are related to the missing passenger jet."
The crew of the Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft had given the co-ordinates of the objects to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) as well as China's ice-breaker Xue Long (Snow Dragon), which is heading to the area, Xinhua news agency said.
Later, Australian crews confirmed they had seen four objects - one rectangular and one circular slightly below the ocean and two cylindrical objects, with one measuring up to two metres in length.
Australian navy supply ship HMAS Success is on the scene and is trying to locate and recover the objects in order to assess whether they are connected to the missing Malaysian Airlines jet.
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