Malaysian PM holds meeting over missing jet

Kuala Lumpur, March 20 (IANS) Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak Thursday held a meeting with Chief of Defence Forces Mohd Zulkifeli Mohd Zin after objects believed related to a Malaysian aircraft that went missing March 8 were spotted in the southern Indian Ocean.

Najib said in his latest post on Twitter that he held the meeting after Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott called him to convey the news of the objects being sighted on satellite imagery, Xinhua reported.

“Meeting my Chief of Defence Forces. After call from @ TonyAbbottMHR, awaiting confirmation from Australia on the objects found,” he said in his Twitter post.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished mysteriously about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur March 8.

The Boeing 777-200ER was initially presumed to have crashed off the Vietnamese coast in the South China Sea.

The plane was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6.30 a.m. the same day. The 227 passengers on board included five Indians.

Contact with the plane was lost along with its radar signal at 1.40 a.m. when it was flying over the air traffic control area of Ho Chi Minh City.

Abbott told parliament Thursday that new satellite images showed two possible objects in the ocean, and new and credible information had come to light in relation to the search.

“Following specialist analysis of this satellite imagery, two possible objects related to the search have been identified,” Abbott said.

But he also cautioned: “We must keep in mind the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370.”