Storms ground MH370 air search after new debris sighting

PERTH, Australia, Mar 27 (AFP): Thunderstorms and gale-force winds grounded the international air search for wreckage from Flight MH370 on Thursday, frustrating the effort again as Thailand reported a satellite sighting of hundreds of floating objects.

The Thai report was the second in two days suggesting a possible debris field from the crashed jet in the stormy southern Indian Ocean.

But a major air and sea search has frustratingly failed so far to secure any wreckage confirmed to have come from the Malaysia Airlines passenger plane which went missing on March 8 with 239 people on board.

Planes and ships have faced fierce winds and sometimes mountainous seas as they hunt for hard evidence that the plane crashed, as Malaysia has concluded.

On Tuesday the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) called off both the air and sea search.

The agency on Thursday suspended the air search because of worsening weather after it had got under way, but said ships would try to continue.

AP from Bangkok adds: A Thai satellite has detected about 300 objects floating in the Indian Ocean near the search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner, officials said Thursday.

Anond Snidvongs, director of Thailand's space technology development agency, said the images showed "300 objects of various sizes" in the southern Indian Ocean about 2,700 kilometers (1,675 miles) southwest of Perth, Australia.

Some of the objects were estimated at up to 16 meters (52 feet) long, he said.

The images were taken by the Thaichote satellite on Monday, took two days to process and were relayed to Malaysian authorities on Wednesday.

Anond says the objects were about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the area where a French satellite on Sunday spotted 122 objects. It remains uncertain whether the objects are from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared March 8 with 239 people aboard.