Malaysia MH370: Australian Satellite Spots Possible Plane Debris; U.S. Plane 'Not Getting Any Evidence' of Debris

A United State Navy aircraft searching for surface objects traced by an Australian satellite has “not confirmed” any sighting of debris so far, a senior official said early Thursday. The P-8 Poseidon plane is “on station” in the area of the Indian Ocean and will continue to search, Navy Lieutenant David Levy told NBC News.

The sophisticated anti-submarine aircraft can scan an area of up to 10,000 square miles.

An Australian satellite was reported to have spotted two objects in the southern Indian Ocean that could be related to the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Australian authorities said Thursday in what they called "the best lead we have" in the mysterious case.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Parliament on Thursday afternoon that he had spoken to Malaysia's prime minister about the objects.

The objects were spotted on Sunday in satellite imagery about 2,250 kilometers, or roughly 1,400 miles, off the coast of Perth, John Young, emergency response general manager for the Australian Maritime Safety Authority, said at a news conference Thursday afternoon in Canberra.

The objects are "relatively indistinct," but the larger of the two appears to be about 24 meters across, he said — about 75 feet.

Young and Abbott said more analysis was needed before it could be determined whether the objects were, indeed, from Flight 370, but Young called the discovery "the best lead we have right now."

"The task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult, and it may turn out that they may not be related," Abbott said, but he characterized the find as "new and credible information" in the search for the Beijing-bound plane, which disappeared March 8 after takeoff from Kuala Lumpur international airport.

Young agreed that the analysis mission would be difficult, describing visibility in the area as "poor." Better data could be obtained from further images expected once commercial satellites are redirected to help out "in due course," he said.

Australian Defense Minister David Johnston called the operation "a logistical nightmare" in an interview on Sky News Australia.

"This is a terribly complex logistical operation to identify what we have found via the satellite," Johnston said. "We are in a most isolated part of the world — in fact, it probably doesn't get, if I can be so bold, more isolated."

A P-3 Orion aircraft arrived in the area about 1:50 p.m. (10:50 p.m. ET Wednesday) to try to get a closer look at the objects, and three more jets were on their way to assist, Young said. One of them, a U.S. Navy P8 Poseidon, was believed to have already arrived in the area, he said.