Chinese media reports suspicious objects floating in Indian Ocean

Chinese media reported that an aircraft searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane had spotted what it described as "suspicious objects" floating in the southern Indian Ocean.

China's official news agency Xinhua reported that two "relatively big" floating objects and several smaller white ones had been sighted scattered over several kilometres.

Authorities had plans to search the area to check if the debris had come from the missing Boeing 777, which disappeared over two weeks ago.

In another development, the US Navy announced that it was sending a black box detector to aid in the search for the plane.

In a statement, the US Pacific Command said that the "Towed Pinger Locator" had highly-sensitive listening capability so that if the wreck was located, it could hear the black box pinger down to a depth of about 6,100 metres.

The Black box, is a common term for flight recorders of planes, which contain detailed information about what took place on an aircraft.

Meanwhile, the search for the missing Malaysian passenger jet failed to locate any debris today, despite a new French report of the plane's wreckage floating in the Indian Ocean.

The remote waters 2,500 kilometeres southwest of Australia were scoured by planes and ships from several countries for a fourth day yesterday, but the search yielded nothing of significance.

Meanwhile, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) will question the wife of captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, who commanded the missing Malaysian airliner, as suspicion swelled that he might have hijacked the flight, IANS reported.

Faizah Khan, a mother of three, would be questioned in an investigation conducted by the FBI, the UK's Daily Mirror reported today. According to sources close to Shah, the pilot's personal life was quite complicated.

His deteriorating relationship with his wife had reached a point where he was no longer in a relationship with her, despite living together with their children in the same house. Shah was  now in prime focus due to his unstable personal life and his support of an opposition political leader recently jailed in Malaysia.

The two-minute phone call that Captain Zaharie received from a mysterious woman who used a mobile number with a fake identity, before take-off 8 March is also being investigated by the police.

The flight simulator which was found at his residence by the Malaysian police was also being probed for clues.