MH370 search looks for debris breakthrough in new area

PERTH, Mar 29 (AFP): Ship and plane crews Saturday searched a vast new area of the Indian Ocean for wreckage from a Malaysian plane which went missing three weeks ago, seeking closure for relatives and clues to the crash.

China, which lost 153 people when the Boeing 777 went down on March 8 with a total of 239 on board, was at the forefront of the sweep across a vast expanse of sea about the size of Norway.

One of its ships-the Haixun 01 -- began hunting at first light for multiple unidentified objects seen from the air the previous day, and a Chinese air force Ilyushin IL-76 was the first of eight aircraft to depart from an air base near the west Australian city of Perth.

China's state news agency said the plane crew had spotted three unidentified floating objects coloured white, red and orange. The Haixun 01 would try to trace and retrieve them, it said.

Numerous satellite and air sightings of unidentified debris have raised hopes that wreckage of the Malaysia Airlines plane will finally be found.

On Monday Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced that, based on fresh British analysis of satellite data, the plane had been lost at sea.

But after three weeks of false leads and sometimes conflicting information, many desperate and angry relatives are refusing to abandon hope until physical proof of a crash is found.