Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CNN) --
Authorities have spotted two objects in the Indian Ocean that are possibly
related to the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Australian
Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Thursday.
"New
and credible information has come to light in relation to the search for
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean," Abbott said
in the the Australian House of Representatives in Canberra. "The
Australian Maritime Safety Authority 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. "I can inform the House
that a Royal Australian Air Force Orion has been diverted to attempt to locate
the objects."
Three
other planes will carry out a "more intensive follow-up search," he
said.
Australian
search teams have been at the forefront of the hunt for the missing plane in the
remote southern Indian Ocean.
The
announcement from Abbott raises hopes of finding parts of the plane after a
search that is now in its 13th day. Previous reports of debris found in the sea
have not turned out to be related
But those
reports came before the search area was massively expanded into two large arcs,
one that heads north into Asia, the other south into the Indian Ocean.
Other
pieces of information related to the investigation into the plane's
disappearance had emerged Wednesday.