Chinese, RAAF planes, and eyewitnesses spot objects southwest of Perth

An RAAF plane has located objects in the search area 2500km southwest of Perth. The HMAS Success is at the scene, according to the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

The crew on board the Orion plane reported seeing two objects – “the first a grey or green circular object and
the second an orange rectangular object.”

The objects identified by the plane are separate from the objects reported by the Chinese earlier today, also within the seach area. A Xinhua correspondent aboard the Chinese aircraft said searchers saw two relatively big floating objects with many white smaller ones scattered within a radius of several kilometers in the southern Indian Ocean. But a US navy plane was unable to locate them.

A second RAAF plane and a Japanese plane are on the way to the search area, while a US Navy aircraft remains there.

Meanwhile, the Sydney Morning Herald reports that Flight Lieutenant Williams spotted four objects:

“The first object was rectangular, slightly below the ocean, the second object was circular, also slightly below the ocean,” he said.

“We came across a cylindrical object that was 2m long about 30cm across, and we came across another item that was also cylindrical and shaped in a rough fish hook.”

And Andrew Thomas of Aljazeera Sydney has tweeted: “Despite reports to contrary, I can confirm 5 objects seen by crew, 4 ‘confirmed’ (seen by 2+ people) and 2 photographed.”

I have seen the images of 2 of the objects. Impossible to say what they are Very indistinct in photos. One white and circular

— ANDREW THOMAS (@AlJazSydANDREW) March 24, 2014

Since then, the last of the search planes have departed the area, after calling it a night.