Thai satellite sights 300 objects near search area

The Thailand Earth Observation Satellite (Thaichote) has spotted 300 floating objects in the Indian Ocean, some 200 kilometre southwest of the area being searched for Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370.

 

Thailand is the fifth country that has produced satellite images of floating objects in the same area after Australia, France, UK and China.

According to the AFP, the floating objects were identified by Thailand's Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency. 

 

It said that the objects ranged from two to 15 metres in size, scattered over an area about 2,700 km southwest of Perth.

The images were taken on March 24, top financial daily The Wall Street Journal reported.

 

Thai newspaper The Nation reported that the images have been submitted to the caretaker premier it will be forwarded to Malaysia. 

Yesterday, acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein announced that French satellites spotted 122 pieces of suspected debris in the search area, which is slightly larger than the size of Sabah. 

 

The multinational search, which resumed this morning was called off after about four hours due to bad weather in one of the roughest seas in the world. Ships, however, remain in the ocean. 

 

The Nation said that Thaichote is a remote sensing satellite for natural resources observation.

Japan reports sightings

Meanwhile in the evening Japan's Kyodo News and NHK reported a Japanese satellite has spotted about 10 "suspicious objects" about 2,500 km south-west of Perth in the vicinity of other similar sightings.

The objects were seen drifting in a roughly 10km radius, with one measuring about 8m long and 4m wide

According to government sources, the images were taken from 9am to 3pm Japanese local time on Wednesday.

Malaysia has been briefed on the sighting, it said.