China informs Malaysia, Australia its satellite imagery finding

BEIJING - Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said on Saturday China had informed Malaysia and Australia soon after a Chinese satellite spotted a large object possibly related to missing flight MH370.

Satellite imagery shows a 22-meter-long, 13-meter-wide object in the southern Indian Ocean, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (SASTIND) confirmed Saturday.

"China hopes that these data will be helpful for searching and rescuing efforts," said Hong.

It still needs further analysis and verification on whether the suspicious floating object is related to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, said Hong, adding that China's sea and air search-and-rescue forces are heading for the southern Indian Ocean.

"China will continue to cooperate closely with parties concerned and share information with them, so as to make an all-out effort to search and rescue work", he said.

Captured by the high-definition earth observation satellite "Gaofen-1" at around 12 a.m. on March 18 Beijing Time, the imagery spotted the object at 44 degrees, 57 minutes south latitude, and 90 degrees, 13 minutes east longitude, in the southern Indian Ocean, the SASTIND said.

The location of the suspicious object is along the southern corridor missing flight MH370 might have taken, and about 120 km south by west from the location of a suspicious object Australia found before.