China says suspicious object 120 km from possible debris announced by...

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A suspicious object spotted by a Chinese satellite was floating 120 km (72 miles) from possible debris announced by Australia in the search for a missing Malaysian jet, the official Xinhua news agency said on Saturday.

"The location of the suspicious object is along the southern corridor missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 might have taken," it said, adding the object was spotted on March 18, two days after the satellite image announced by Australia.

This comes as India has formally told Malaysian investigators it has found no evidence that a missing Malaysia Airlines jet with 239 people on board flew through its airspace, several people familiar with the matter said.

The first formal notification that India has come up empty-handed after checking its radar records leaves the two-week-old investigation dependent on increasingly fragile hopes that an object spotted in the southern Indian Ocean comes from Flight MH370.

Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said earlier that after two days without confirmation, his "biggest concern" was that the search for the missing plane would have to focus once again on two corridors stretching north and south.

Two weeks after a Malaysia Airlines airliner went missing, officials are bracing for the "long haul" as searches by more than two dozen countries turn up little but frustration and fresh questions.

The international team hunting Flight MH370 in the remote southern Indian Ocean returned on Saturday to an area where suspected debris was spotted by satellite earlier this week.

Six aircraft and two merchant ships are scouring the area, though Australian officials have cautioned the objects, one up to 24 meters (72 feet) in length, may not be related to the missing aircraft or might have sunk.

China, Japan and India are sending planes and Australian and Chinese navy vessels are steaming to the zone, more than 2,000km (1,200 miles) southwest of Perth.

Aircraft and ships have also renewed the search in the Andaman Sea between India and Thailand, going over areas that have already been exhaustively swept to find some clue to unlock one of the biggest mysteries in modern aviation.

Malaysian officials have been realistic about their ability to lead the operation with a global dynamic that some have said is beyond the country's technical capabilities and expertise.

Investigators suspect the Boeing 777, which took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing shortly after midnight on March 8, was deliberately diverted thousands of miles from its scheduled path. They say they are focusing on hijacking or sabotage but have not ruled out technical problems.

REUTERS

China says suspicious object 120 km from possible debris announced by Australia-Xinhua