'Credible Leads' Offer Hope Of Discovering Fate Of Flight 370: Australia's Prime Minister

Possible Malaysia Plane Debris Off Australia — Satellite imagery provided to Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) of objects that may be possible debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in a revised area 185 km (115 miles) to the south east of the original search area in this picture released by AMSA March 20, 2014. A Search aircraft are investigating two objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia that could be debris from a Malaysian jetliner missing for 12 days with 239 people on board, officials said on Thursday. Reuters/Australian Maritime Safety Authority/Handout via REUTERS

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said at a press conference that satellites have found objects about 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) off the coast of Perth.

He said he was optimistic that investigators will find out the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared on March 8 after it took off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing, China, with 239 people on board. He noted that more planes are searching for any sign of the plane than ever before.

"Obviously, the more aircraft we have, the more ships we have, the more confident we are of recovering whatever material is down there," Abbott said. "And obviously, before we can be too specific about what it might be, we do actually need to recover some of this material. We have now had a number of very credible leads, and there is increasing hope ... that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft."

Malaysian authorities now believe the plane was deliberately diverted by someone on board, CNN reported.

Tony Abbott Australia China