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The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) has encountered problems due to bad weather in locating the objects detected by satellite in the southern Indian Ocean that could be linked to a missing Malaysian airliner, said the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa).      

Clouds and rain had caused limited visibility for the RAAF P-3 Orion aircraft crew to locate the objects spotted by satellite about 2,500km southwest of the Australian city of Perth, tweeted Amsa.     

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott had said earlier today that satellite imagery found two objects possibly related to the search for the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370.      

The Boeing 777-200ER aircraft carrying 239 people left Kuala Lumpur on March 8 for Beijing, and has been missing for 13 days now.      

A search was mounted for the aircraft in the South China Sea but the area of the search was extended to cover a large tract west of Malaysia, including the Indian Ocean, when it was learned that the plane had veered off course after someone deliberately switched off the communication system on board and the plane had flown for seven hours after that.      

The search then focused on two corridors, namely the northern corridor which stretches from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, and the southern corridor which stretches from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.  

MAS: Kin will be flown to Australia

Meanwhile Malaysia Airlines (MAS) said it is prepared to fly to Australia the families of passengers and crew of its missing flight if the two objects captured on satellite imagery in the southern Indian Ocean are confirmed to be from the lost aircraft.       

MAS chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the families of the 239 passengers and crew were always the top priority for the airline.      

“We do take care of the next-of-kin (of passengers on board) and, assuming that it is confirmed the aircraft is located somewhere close to Australia, we will obviously make an arrangement to fly the next-of-kin there,” he said.      

He spoke at the daily media briefing on the latest developments regarding the search for the aircraft, which was also attended by acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, Foreign Minister Anifah Aman and Department of Civil Aviation director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman.         

Ahmad Jauhari said MAS was committed to providing the families with accurate and up-to-date information, up to two or three times daily.            

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin gave the assurance that the families would be the first to be notified if there was any confirmation on the satellite images or any latest development in the SAR operation, which entered its 13th day today.        

"The credible breaking news today is regarding the satellite images; I think that would be in the minds of the families.       

"I think that would be the first thing that we will update the families when information comes in," he said, adding that his deep sympathies had always been with the families.      

He noted that it was not an easy task to deal with the distraught families, and the authorities were now learning from the experience of the French Aviation Safety Agency (BEA) on how to cope with the situation.      

    

"It is very difficult (to deal with the families). I spoke to the French teams which had to deal with the families of the passengers of Air France 447 for two years after the crash (2009)," he said.      

French team lends hand

The BEA team arrived on Monday to assist the Malaysia-led international investigating team in the search for the missing aircraft, with their focus on undersea search.      

In 2009, the BEA team was involved with the Air France 447 crash that killed all 228 people aboard, and the blackbox of the unfortunate plane was only found two years after the tragedy.      

Hishammuddin also said that giving accurate and up-to-date information to the families was also their main concern, which prompted the deployment of a high-level team to Beijing this evening.      

"The representatives from the Malaysian government already spoke to the families, led by the prime minister's special envoy to China (Ong Ka Ting).      

     

"Officials from the China embassy also help by leading the briefing for the Chinese families who are here in Kuala Lumpur," he said.       

- Bernama      

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