Australia’s maritime authority has announced a possible lead in the search for the missing Malaysian airliner after images appeared on one of its satellites.

Two objects of considerable size – one said to be 24 metres long – have been spotted south west of Perth in the southern Indian Ocean.

A cautious John Young of AMSA announced the news:

“The images were captured by satellite, they may not be related to the aircraft. Further images are expected after commercial satellites were redirected to take high resolution images of the areas of interest. These will be provided in due course.”

Australia has sent four search aircraft and two ships to the area. The water there is said to be several thousand metres deep and poor visibility could hamper the operation.

For over a week no confirmed wreckage has been found of the jet which disapeared on route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board.