Search finds no trace of MH370

Search planes sent to find objects in the south Indian Ocean that may be from the missing Malaysia Airlines jet began returning without success Friday, and an Australian official said the hunt would resume Saturday.

The planes are part of an international effort to solve the nearly two-week-old aviation mystery by locating two large objects a satellite detected floating off the southwest coast of Australia about halfway to desolate islands of the Antarctic.

The search for the plane also continues in other regions, including a wide arc sweeping from Laos to Kazakhstan, but the focus for now is in the southern Indian Ocean. The area is so remote, it takes aircraft four hours each way to fly there and back, which leaves them only about two hours to search.

The satellite discovery raised new hope of finding the vanished jet and sent another emotional jolt to the families of the 239 people aboard.

But like the first day of searching Thursday, efforts on Friday proved fruitless, said John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's (AMSA) emergency response division.

"Although this search area is much smaller than we started with, it nonetheless is a big area when you're looking out the window and trying to see something by eye," Young said. "So we may have to do this a few times to be confident." Five planes had been sent out, he said.

Young said that although the weather improved from Thursday, there was still some low cloud cover over the search area 1,400 mile from western Australia. Searchers were using their eyes instead of equipment to try and spot the objects, forcing the planes to fly very low over the water.

The aircraft are planning to head back to the search zone on Saturday, but the area will change slightly depending on water movements overnight, Young said.

AMSA officials are also looking to see if there is any new satellite imagery that can help provide searchers with new or more information, he said.

Speaking at a news conference in Papua New Guinea, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said, "We've been throwing everything we've got at that area to try to learn more about what this debris might be." He said that the objects "could just be a container that's fallen off a ship — we just don't know."

Abbott spoke with Chinese President Xi Jinping, whom he described as "devastated." Of the 227 passengers on the missing flight, 154 were from China.

At least seven Chinese ships had deployed to the search area as of Friday, according to the Xinhua news agency, which reported that rescue ships Haixun 01 and 31 and Nanhaijiu 101 and 115 were to depart for the search area. Three other navy ships were already on their way, it added.

The Antarctic research icebreaker Xuelong, or Snow Dragon, would head for the area "as soon as possible," Xinhua said. The Xuelong was leaving from the western Australian port of Fremantle (near Perth), a base for search operations.

"It's about the most inaccessible spot that you could imagine on the face of the earth, but if there is anything down there we will find it. We owe it to the families of those people to do no less," Abbott said.

The development also marked a new phase for the anguished relatives of the passengers, who have been critical of Malaysian officials for what the relatives say has been the slow release of timely information.

"I have been getting reports all morning. There is no positive corroboration yet," Defense Minister and acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters on Friday when asked about the search.

In Beijing, relatives met Friday with Malaysian officials at the Lido Hotel, where most have been staying awaiting the latest news. Those who spoke said they had a two-hour briefing about the search but that nothing new was said.

Wang Zhen, son of artist Wang Linshi, said the meeting went smoothly but that there were questions on why Malaysian authorities had provided so much seemingly contradictory information. Wang said he has hopes his father can be found alive and was praying that the Australian reports turn out to be false.

"We feel they're hiding something from us," said Wang, referring to Malaysian authorities.

The combination the search planes are using — radar to detect objects coupled with low passes over the ocean to identify them visually — is crucial because when "radar blips come back it's not always clear what the object is," said Michael Smart, an aerospace engineering professor at Australia's University of Queensland.

"They use the radar to focus and then they go and visually look to see what it is," he said. "The high technology and the low technology are equally important."

Weather conditions are the biggest challenges for searchers in an area known for its storms, said Smart, though rainy and cloudy weather appeared to be clearing up Friday afternoon. And if the objects are partially submerged as they bob in the ocean, that could also affect the planes' radar detection capabilities.

Smart predicted, "it will be just a matter of time before they are found. If they were going to sink they would have already."

Al Jazeera and wire services