Piece of board found by one of seven relatives who flew to Indian Ocean island to raise awareness of need to hand in debris thought to be from plane 
 
 A Chinese man who travelled to Madagascar in search of answers to the disappearance of his mother on Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has found a possible piece of debris from the plane during a search of the country’s beaches. 
 
 Jiang Hui, 44, is one of seven relatives who flew to the Indian Ocean island on Saturday to raise awareness of the debris that has been washing up on its beaches in ever-increasing amounts and conduct preliminary searches. 
 
 ​The man on a solo mission to find ​the wreckage o​f​ flight MH370 Read more 
 
 He found a small white and sand-coloured piece of board in a rocky cove at the end of Riake beach on north-eastern Île Sainte-Marie, where a significant amount of the debris thought to be from MH370 has already been discovered. “I felt excited but at the same time it was saddening,” he said. “It is a small piece and will not really be able to show what happened to the plane but I hope so much that the authorities of Malaysia, China and Australia will try to find more so they can find out.” 
 
 The piece has been handed to an official from the Malaysian investigation, said Blaine Gibson, a Seattle lawyer who has found 16 pieces of debris thought to be from the plane in Mozambique and Madagascar. 
 
 Following Jiang’s discovery, Gibson said he had stumbled upon a larger object in the same area. He said both pieces appeared to be from the cabin of a large airliner. 
 
 “[The find] just shows how important it is that these beaches are checked daily, and that local people keep their eyes open,” Gibson said. “It also shows how important this visit by the families is for raising awareness.” 
 
 
 
 Jiang lost his 73-year-old mother, Jiang Cuiyun, on the flight and has been prominent in the relatives’ campaign amid a lack of openness – and seemingly of action – from the Malaysian-led official inquiry. 
 
 Relatives of those who were on MH370, which disappeared while flying to Beijing on 8 March 2014, have criticised the Malaysian investigation for failing to collect debris found on Madagascar six months ago. Malaysia is now sending investigators to Madagascar but insists the timing is a coincidence. 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest Relatives of some of the passengers on MH370 who are searching for debris from the plane in Madagascar. Photograph: Stringer/Reuters 
 
 Jiang spoke briefly at a press conference held in the capital, Antananarivo, on Sunday as the relatives began their search. “In order to look for my mum, I have come here but my English is poor,” he said, before switching to Chinese to appeal for help in finding more evidence of the plane. 
 
 Grace Nathan, spokeswoman for the Voice370 campaign group, said the discovery of debris potentially from the plane brought “mixed feelings” for the whole group. 
 
 What happened to MH370? Malaysia Airlines flight 370, flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew, vanished on 8 March 2014. There was no trace of the plane until a flaperon washed up on Réunion in the Indian Ocean in 2015. Several pieces of debris found around east and south Africa have since been assessed to be from the missing aircraft. A seabed search led by Australia, backed by Malaysia and China, is due to continue until early 2017. Theories – all unproven – have ranged from crew involvement or hijacking to onboard fire or catastrophic technical failure. 
 
 “First time a piece was found by one of us. Such mixed feelings now for all of us – pain, sadness, confusion, hope,” she wrote on a Facebook page where the relatives share updates with others bereaved by the incident. 
 
 It is thought unlikely the small fragment found by Jiang would ever be definitively linked to MH370, but Gibson said it was washed up on the same part of the beach where he found items including a seat back – complete with coat hook and frame for an in-flight television screen. 
 
 The find comes after the families divided into three groups to visit the stretches of coastline where current and wind analysis has predicted most debris could wash up. 
 
 In Nosy Be, Tamatave and Île Sainte-Marie, they have met local officials, tourism and fishery associations as well as journalists to raise awareness about the need to pick up and hand in potential debris. 
 
 One local boat owner lent his vessel for free to Nathan and her father so they could search offshore islands. Homemade fliers she printed showing what the debris looked like and how it should be preserved have run out and had to be reprinted. 
 
 Ghislain Wattrelos, a French national who lost his wife and two teenage children, said the relatives had been moved by the outpouring of public sympathy. 
 
 “It was the right move to come,” he said. “We have had a very nice response from everyone, we have been very well-received.” ||||| Story highlights Australian Prime Minister: "If this mystery is solvable, we will solve it" 
 
 Search for plane resumes; 10 aircraft and 10 boats involved 
 
 No confirmed plane debris sightings, though four interesting orange objects are seen 
 
 Australian crew calls new objects one of their "most promising leads" 
 
 New hope, more frustration. 
 
 As the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 turned up fresh potential clues, dozens of anguished Chinese relatives on Sunday demanded that Malaysia provide them with evidence on the fate of their loved ones aboard the missing Boeing 777. 
 
 Ideal weather conditions gave one Australian aircraft crew the opportunity to detect many objects in the water west of Perth. 
 
 It spotted four orange items of interest, took photos and sent the coordinates, but Flight Lt. Russell Adams said the crew couldn't determine whether the objects were from the airliner, which officials believe went down in the southern Indian Ocean. 
 
 The items were more than 2 meters (6.5 feet) long, he said. 
 
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 Photos: The search for MH370 Photos: The search for MH370 Two years after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, a relative of one of the passengers burns incense in Beijing on March 8, 2016. Flight 370 vanished on March 8, 2014, as it flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. There were 239 people on board. Hide Caption 1 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 On July 29, police carry a piece of debris on Reunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. A week later, authorities confirmed that the debris was from the missing flight. Hide Caption 2 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Staff members with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau examine a piece of aircraft debris at their laboratory in Canberra, Australia, on July 20. The flap was found in June by residents on Pemba Island off the coast of Tanzania, and officials had said it was highly likely to have come from Flight 370. Experts at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is heading up the search for the plane, confirmed that the part was indeed from the missing aircraft. Hide Caption 3 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 In late February, American tourist Blaine Gibson found a piece of plane debris off Mozambique, a discovery that renewed hope of solving the mystery of the missing flight. The piece measured 35 inches by 22 inches. A U.S. official said it was likely the wreckage came from a Boeing 777, which MH370 was. Hide Caption 4 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Relatives of the flight's passengers console each other outside the Malaysia Airlines office in Subang, Malaysia, on February 12, 2015. Protesters had demanded that the airline withdraw the statement that all 239 people aboard the plane were dead. Hide Caption 5 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A police officer watches a couple cry outside the airline's office building in Beijing after officials refused to meet with them on June 11, 2014. The couple's son was on the plane. Hide Caption 6 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Members of the media scramble to speak with Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Department, at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 27, 2014. Data from communications between satellites and the missing flight was released the day before, more than two months after relatives of passengers said they requested it be made public. Hide Caption 7 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Operators aboard the Australian ship Ocean Shield move Bluefin-21, the U.S. Navy's autonomous underwater vehicle, into position to search for the jet on April 14, 2014. Hide Caption 8 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks out of a window while searching for debris off the coast of western Australia on April 13, 2014. Hide Caption 9 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 The HMS Echo, a vessel with the British Roya; Navy, moves through the waters of the southern Indian Ocean on April 12, 2014. Hide Caption 10 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion, on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the search, flies past the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 9, 2014. Hide Caption 11 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A relative of a missing passenger cries at a vigil in Beijing on April 8, 2014. Hide Caption 12 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Australian Defense Force divers scan the water for debris in the southern Indian Ocean on April 7, 2014. Hide Caption 13 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A towed pinger locator is readied to be deployed off the deck of the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 7, 2014. Hide Caption 14 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks at a flare in the Indian Ocean during search operations on April 4, 2014. Hide Caption 15 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 On March 30, 2014, a woman in Kuala Lumpur prepares for an event in honor of those aboard Flight 370. Hide Caption 16 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 The sole representative for the families of Flight 370 passengers leaves a conference at a Beijing hotel on March 28, 2014, after other relatives left en masse to protest the Malaysian government's response to their questions. Hide Caption 17 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Royal Australian Air Force is silhouetted against the southern Indian Ocean during the search for the missing jet on March 27, 2014. Hide Caption 18 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Flight Lt. Jayson Nichols looks at a map aboard a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft during a search on March 27, 2014. Hide Caption 19 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 People in Kuala Lumpur light candles during a ceremony held for the missing flight's passengers on March 27, 2014. Hide Caption 20 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, delivers a statement about the flight on March 24, 2014. Razak's announcement came after the airline sent a text message to relatives saying it "deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH 370 has been lost and that none of those onboard survived." Hide Caption 21 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Grieving relatives of missing passengers leave a hotel in Beijing on March 24, 2014. Hide Caption 22 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A passenger views a weather map in the departures terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 22, 2014. Hide Caption 23 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Chinese satellite captured this image, released on March 22, 2014, of a floating object in the Indian Ocean, according to China's State Administration of Science. It was a possible lead in the search for the missing plane. Surveillance planes were looking for two objects spotted by satellite imagery in remote, treacherous waters more than 1,400 miles from the west coast of Australia. Hide Caption 24 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Satellite imagery provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on March 20, 2014, showed debris in the southern Indian Ocean that could have been from Flight 370. The announcement by Australian officials raised hopes of a breakthrough in the frustrating search. Hide Caption 25 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Another satellite shot provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority shows possible debris from the flight. Hide Caption 26 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A distraught relative of a missing passenger breaks down while talking to reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 19, 2014. Hide Caption 27 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 On March 18, 2014, a relative of a missing passenger tells reporters in Beijing about a hunger strike to protest authorities' handling of information about the missing jet. Hide Caption 28 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 U.S. Navy crew members assist in search-and-rescue operations in the Indian Ocean on March 16, 2014. Hide Caption 29 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Members of the Chinese navy continue search operations on March 13, 2014. After starting in the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, the plane's last confirmed location, search efforts expanded west into the Indian Ocean. Hide Caption 30 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Vietnamese military official looks out an aircraft window during search operations March 13, 2014. Hide Caption 31 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysian air force members look for debris near Kuala Lumpur on March 13, 2014. Hide Caption 32 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Relatives of missing passengers wait for the latest news at a hotel in Beijing on March 12, 2014. Hide Caption 33 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Vietnamese air force checks a map while searching for the missing plane on March 11, 2014. Hide Caption 34 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Vietnamese air force plane found traces of oil that authorities had suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported on March 8, 2014. However, a sample from the slick showed it was bunker oil, typically used to power large cargo ships, Malaysia's state news agency, Bernama, reported on March 10, 2014. Hide Caption 35 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter lands aboard the USS Pinckney to change crews on March 9, 2014, before returning to search for the missing plane in the Gulf of Thailand. Hide Caption 36 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Buddhist monks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport offer a special prayer for the missing passengers on March 9, 2014. Hide Caption 37 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Members of a Chinese emergency response team board a rescue vessel at the port of Sanya in China's Hainan province on March 9, 2014. Hide Caption 38 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 The rescue vessel sets out from Sanya in the South China Sea on March 9, 2014. Hide Caption 39 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8, 2014. Hide Caption 40 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A relative of two missing passengers reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014. Hide Caption 41 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Chinese police at the Beijing airport stand beside the arrival board showing delayed Flight 370 in red on March 8, 2014. Hide Caption 42 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya, front, speaks during a news conference at a hotel in Sepang on March 8, 2014. "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, he said. Hide Caption 43 of 43 
 
 Authorities will analyze the images and then decide whether to send a ship to the debris location. 
 
 Adams called the discovery of the four objects one of the "most promising leads" searchers have come across. 
 
 The search resumed Monday, with 10 aircraft and 10 boats set to look for signs of the missing plane. 
 
 "We are searching a vast area of ocean, and we are working on quite limited information. Nevertheless, the best brains in the world are applying themselves to this task. ... If this mystery is solvable, we will solve it," Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters Monday. 
 
 Speaking from the Royal Australian Air Force base where search teams have been headquartered, Abbott said he wouldn't set a time frame for how long the hunt for the missing plane could take. 
 
 "We can keep searching for quite some time to come. We will keep searching for quite some time to come. ... The intensity of our search and the magnitude of our operations is increasing, not decreasing," he said. 
 
 Search efforts Sunday ended with no confirmed sightings of debris from the plane, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. 
 
 Objects picked up by ships on Saturday turned out to be fishing equipment and other items, officials said. 
 
 'We want truth' 
 
 The family members arrived in Kuala Lumpur and held a news conference at their hotel, imploring officials to be more transparent. 
 
 "We want evidence, we want truth and we want our family," said Jiang Hui, the families' designated representative. The crowd chanted the same words. 
 
 "We are here to call for the following three things," he said. "First, the Malaysian side should provide us with timely and comprehensive evidence and answer the families' questions." 
 
 He also asked Malaysia to apologize for releasing confusing information and for announcing on March 24 that the plane had crashed even though there was no "direct evidence." 
 
 Relatives wore white T-Shirts with the words " Pray for MH370 ... return home safely." Some wept. 
 
 "We are here struck with sadness and urgency," Jiang said. "The meetings recently in China were not fruitful with (Malaysia Airlines) officials." 
 
 Mixed messages 
 
 Family members have accused Malaysian officials of withholding information since the plane vanished more than three weeks ago. 
 
 Of the 239 people aboard the doomed jetliner, 154 were Chinese. 
 
 Last week, relatives were told everyone aboard had died. But Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's acting transportation minister, told reporters Saturday he had not closed the door on the hope that there could be survivors. 
 
 Frustrating search 
 
 Beijing has publicly slammed Malaysia's efforts to find the Boeing 777, which went missing March 8 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. 
 
 And as the frustrating three-week search resumed Monday, China was among the countries scouring the choppy waters of the southern Indian Ocean for signs of the plane. 
 
 Ten aircraft were set to fly over the search area about 1,150 miles (1,850 kilometers) west of Perth, Australian officials said. 
 
 Ten ships were also involved in the search, including the Australian navy ship Ocean Shield, which was fitted with a "black box" detector and an autonomous underwater vehicle. 
 
 On Saturday, crew members aboard a Chinese plane dropped buoys to mark three suspected debris sites, China's state-run CCTV reported. It later said Sunday an orange "suspicious object" spotted by a Chinese plane Saturday turned out to be a dead jellyfish. 
 
 Amid the confusion, Malaysia said it has done its best with what it has. 
 
 "History will judge us as a country that has been very responsible," Hishammuddin said. 
 
 Relatives said they hope to meet the transport minister in Kuala Lumpur. They also asked Malaysia to plan meetings with the various companies involved, including Boeing, the plane's manufacturer. 
 
 Race against time 
 
 Experts said the clock is ticking. 
 
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 The batteries on the flight data recorder, commonly referred to as the black box, are designed to last about 30 days. The plane disappeared March 8 -- 22 days ago. 
 
 "We certainly have our challenges in front of us," said Cmdr. Mark Matthews of the U.S. Navy. 
 
 "What we're trying to find is an acoustic emission from one of the pingers on the flight data recorder (and) the cockpit voice recorder. Typically these last, the batteries last about 30 days, usually they last a little bit longer, and that's what we're trying to find. But what is critical is that the teams that are out there searching for the surface debris, they get good position data on that and they feed it back to the oceanographers, to help us determine a probable point of impact for where the aircraft went in." 
 
 An American pinger locator and undersea search equipment were loaded onto the Ocean Shield. The ship is set to depart by Monday morning, and will take up to three days to reach the search area. 
 
 U.S. Navy Cmdr. William Marks told CNN's "State of the Union" that his team really needs a conclusive piece of debris to narrow down the search area, due to the range of the pinger locator. 
 
 "We have to be careful not to send it in the wrong place, but we also wanted to get it out there as close as we can to what we believe is the right place," he told CNN's Candy Crowley. 
 
 He said if the batteries on the recorders aboard the missing plane run out, the search would require side-scan sonar, one of which has been loaded on a search ship. 
 
 "But like I said, without good visual confirmation of debris, which we really have not had yet, it is tough to even go in the general direction," he said. 
 
 'They're still alive' 
 
 In Beijing on Saturday, some of the relatives of the missing vented their anguish in the streets. 
 
 "They're all still alive, my son and everyone on board!" yelled Wen Wancheng, 63, whose only son was among the passengers. "The plane is still there, too! They're hiding it." 
 
 He held aloft a banner that read: "Son, Mom and Dad's hearts are torn to pieces. Come home soon!" 
 
 Relatives implored Hishammuddin to redouble efforts to find the plane. 
 
 "What they want is a commitment on our part to continue the search, and that I have given," Hishammuddin said. "For me, as the minister responsible, this is the hardest part of my life, at the moment," he told reporters. 
 
 "Miracles do happen, remote or otherwise, and that is the hope that the families want me to convey -- not only to the Malaysian government, MAS (Malaysia Airlines), but also to the world at large," he said. 
 
 Sea objects 
 
 The latest data analysis shows Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 ended up in the southern Indian Ocean. 
 
 But officials have offered different assessments of exactly where it could have gone down. 
 
 Investigators shifted the search area Friday after concluding that the plane had been traveling faster and burning fuel faster than they previously had thought. 
 
 The new search area is closer to Australia's coast, so it takes less time to reach, meaning more area can be searched. It's also marked by calmer waters. ||||| Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Dutch vessel Fugro Equator is the only ship still involved in the search operation 
 
 The one remaining ship still looking for missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 has begun what is likely to be its final search. 
 
 Dutch-owned Fugro Equator left the Australian port of Fremantle on Monday. 
 
 Several ships have combed the seabed of a vast search area in the Indian Ocean since the plane disappeared in 2014. 
 
 The Fugro Equator is expected to finish scouring the final portion of the search area by early 2017. 
 
 Officials say they will suspend the search if the plane is not found by then. 
 
 Not a single piece of wreckage or any clues to the whereabouts of the plane have been found so far by the operation. 
 
 Image copyright EPA Image caption The search for the Malaysia Airlines plane is due to end in early 2017 
 
 "It has been an heroic undertaking but we have to prepare ourselves for the prospect that we may not find MH370 in the coming weeks, although we remain hopeful," Australian Transport Minister Darren Chester told the West Australian newspaper. 
 
 Several countries including Australia and China have taken part in the underwater search. 
 
 Earlier this month the Chinese vessel Dong Hai Jiu 101 completed its mission and is returning to Shanghai, leaving the Fugro Equator as the last ship scouring the vast 120,000 sq km (46,332 sq miles) search area. 
 
 Whether the Fugro Equator's voyage is the ship's final month-long deployment would depend on the weather, the office of Mr Chester told AP news agency. 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Passengers' families looked for clues on Madagascar's beaches last week 
 
 MH370 was carrying 239 people when it disappeared en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur. Many of the passengers were Chinese. 
 
 Last week family members of some passengers journeyed to Madagascar to look for clues on the plane's whereabouts. 
 
 A few aeroplane fragments confirmed to be from MH370 had been found by members of the public on the East African and Madagascan coasts in recent months. 
 
 The location of the debris is in line with drift modelling patterns based on the theory that MH370 went down in a part of the Indian Ocean near Australia. 
 
 The families have expressed frustration at the lack of concrete evidence turned up by the official search, and have called for a coordinated effort to search beaches for debris. ||||| Story highlights Hunt for plane resumes as Chinese plane heads for search area 
 
 Objects, seen in satellite shots from French defense firm, could be related to Flight 370 
 
 Latest satellite spotting "could be the break we've been waiting for," CNN aviation analyst says 
 
 The objects range from about 3 feet to about 75 feet in length 
 
 New satellite images provided by a French defense firm show 122 objects floating in the southern Indian Ocean, not far from other satellite sightings that could be related to missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, the Malaysian transport minister said Wednesday. 
 
 When photographed by the satellite on Sunday, the objects were scattered over 154 square miles (400 square kilometers), acting Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Bin Hussein said. That's about the size of Denver, Colorado. 
 
 The location recorded by the satellite was within the search area scoured Wednesday by a dozen aircraft from six nations, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. Nothing was found, the agency said on Twitter. 
 
 Experts say it's possible the materials may have drifted or sunk. 
 
 Search aircraft did spot three objects, but teams weren't able to locate them again in several passes through the area, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. 
 
 Photos: The search for MH370 Photos: The search for MH370 Two years after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, a relative of one of the passengers burns incense in Beijing on March 8, 2016. Flight 370 vanished on March 8, 2014, as it flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. There were 239 people on board. Hide Caption 1 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 On July 29, police carry a piece of debris on Reunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. A week later, authorities confirmed that the debris was from the missing flight. Hide Caption 2 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Staff members with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau examine a piece of aircraft debris at their laboratory in Canberra, Australia, on July 20. The flap was found in June by residents on Pemba Island off the coast of Tanzania, and officials had said it was highly likely to have come from Flight 370. Experts at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is heading up the search for the plane, confirmed that the part was indeed from the missing aircraft. Hide Caption 3 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 In late February, American tourist Blaine Gibson found a piece of plane debris off Mozambique, a discovery that renewed hope of solving the mystery of the missing flight. The piece measured 35 inches by 22 inches. A U.S. official said it was likely the wreckage came from a Boeing 777, which MH370 was. Hide Caption 4 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Relatives of the flight's passengers console each other outside the Malaysia Airlines office in Subang, Malaysia, on February 12, 2015. Protesters had demanded that the airline withdraw the statement that all 239 people aboard the plane were dead. Hide Caption 5 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A police officer watches a couple cry outside the airline's office building in Beijing after officials refused to meet with them on June 11, 2014. The couple's son was on the plane. Hide Caption 6 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Members of the media scramble to speak with Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Department, at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 27, 2014. Data from communications between satellites and the missing flight was released the day before, more than two months after relatives of passengers said they requested it be made public. Hide Caption 7 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Operators aboard the Australian ship Ocean Shield move Bluefin-21, the U.S. Navy's autonomous underwater vehicle, into position to search for the jet on April 14, 2014. Hide Caption 8 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks out of a window while searching for debris off the coast of western Australia on April 13, 2014. Hide Caption 9 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 The HMS Echo, a vessel with the British Roya; Navy, moves through the waters of the southern Indian Ocean on April 12, 2014. Hide Caption 10 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion, on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the search, flies past the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 9, 2014. Hide Caption 11 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A relative of a missing passenger cries at a vigil in Beijing on April 8, 2014. Hide Caption 12 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Australian Defense Force divers scan the water for debris in the southern Indian Ocean on April 7, 2014. Hide Caption 13 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A towed pinger locator is readied to be deployed off the deck of the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 7, 2014. Hide Caption 14 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks at a flare in the Indian Ocean during search operations on April 4, 2014. Hide Caption 15 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 On March 30, 2014, a woman in Kuala Lumpur prepares for an event in honor of those aboard Flight 370. Hide Caption 16 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 The sole representative for the families of Flight 370 passengers leaves a conference at a Beijing hotel on March 28, 2014, after other relatives left en masse to protest the Malaysian government's response to their questions. Hide Caption 17 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Royal Australian Air Force is silhouetted against the southern Indian Ocean during the search for the missing jet on March 27, 2014. Hide Caption 18 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Flight Lt. Jayson Nichols looks at a map aboard a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft during a search on March 27, 2014. Hide Caption 19 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 People in Kuala Lumpur light candles during a ceremony held for the missing flight's passengers on March 27, 2014. Hide Caption 20 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, delivers a statement about the flight on March 24, 2014. Razak's announcement came after the airline sent a text message to relatives saying it "deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH 370 has been lost and that none of those onboard survived." Hide Caption 21 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Grieving relatives of missing passengers leave a hotel in Beijing on March 24, 2014. Hide Caption 22 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A passenger views a weather map in the departures terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 22, 2014. Hide Caption 23 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Chinese satellite captured this image, released on March 22, 2014, of a floating object in the Indian Ocean, according to China's State Administration of Science. It was a possible lead in the search for the missing plane. Surveillance planes were looking for two objects spotted by satellite imagery in remote, treacherous waters more than 1,400 miles from the west coast of Australia. Hide Caption 24 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Satellite imagery provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on March 20, 2014, showed debris in the southern Indian Ocean that could have been from Flight 370. The announcement by Australian officials raised hopes of a breakthrough in the frustrating search. Hide Caption 25 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Another satellite shot provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority shows possible debris from the flight. Hide Caption 26 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A distraught relative of a missing passenger breaks down while talking to reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 19, 2014. Hide Caption 27 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 On March 18, 2014, a relative of a missing passenger tells reporters in Beijing about a hunger strike to protest authorities' handling of information about the missing jet. Hide Caption 28 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 U.S. Navy crew members assist in search-and-rescue operations in the Indian Ocean on March 16, 2014. Hide Caption 29 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Members of the Chinese navy continue search operations on March 13, 2014. After starting in the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, the plane's last confirmed location, search efforts expanded west into the Indian Ocean. Hide Caption 30 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Vietnamese military official looks out an aircraft window during search operations March 13, 2014. Hide Caption 31 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysian air force members look for debris near Kuala Lumpur on March 13, 2014. Hide Caption 32 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Relatives of missing passengers wait for the latest news at a hotel in Beijing on March 12, 2014. Hide Caption 33 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Vietnamese air force checks a map while searching for the missing plane on March 11, 2014. Hide Caption 34 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Vietnamese air force plane found traces of oil that authorities had suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported on March 8, 2014. However, a sample from the slick showed it was bunker oil, typically used to power large cargo ships, Malaysia's state news agency, Bernama, reported on March 10, 2014. Hide Caption 35 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter lands aboard the USS Pinckney to change crews on March 9, 2014, before returning to search for the missing plane in the Gulf of Thailand. Hide Caption 36 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Buddhist monks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport offer a special prayer for the missing passengers on March 9, 2014. Hide Caption 37 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Members of a Chinese emergency response team board a rescue vessel at the port of Sanya in China's Hainan province on March 9, 2014. Hide Caption 38 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 The rescue vessel sets out from Sanya in the South China Sea on March 9, 2014. Hide Caption 39 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8, 2014. Hide Caption 40 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A relative of two missing passengers reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014. Hide Caption 41 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Chinese police at the Beijing airport stand beside the arrival board showing delayed Flight 370 in red on March 8, 2014. Hide Caption 42 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya, front, speaks during a news conference at a hotel in Sepang on March 8, 2014. "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, he said. Hide Caption 43 of 43 
 
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 The latest objects seen on satellite images provided by Airbus Defence and Space range from about 3 feet (1 meter) to about 75 feet (23 meters), Hishammuddin said. Some appear bright, indicating they may be solid, he said. 
 
 The latest images appear to be the most significant discovery yet in the hunt for the missing plane, which vanished March 8 with 239 people aboard, said CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien. 
 
 "There's a very good chance this could be the break we've been waiting for," he said. 
 
 Aviation safety analyst David Soucie agreed, saying he was particularly intrigued by the size of the 75-foot object. 
 
 "It has potential to be a wing that's floating," he said. "So I'm really encouraged by it, I really am." 
 
 But satellites have captured images of objects before during the current search, crews have yet to spot anything definitively linked to the airplane and ships haven't recovered anything of note. 
 
 "This is a positive indication that the searchers are getting closer to the origin of the crash, but there are many uncertainties," said Ian MacDonald, an oceanographer at Florida State University. "There could be many objects floating in the ocean, that are large or small, that are completely unrelated to the crash." 
 
 Until searchers get their hands on the objects, he said, it's too soon to say whether they are parts of the plane or garbage floating in ocean waters 
 
 Officials have warned that objects spotted in the water may turn out to be flotsam from cargo ships, and that finding anything from the plane still could take a long time. 
 
 "There's always a possibility we might not actually find something next week or the week after," Mark Binskin, vice chief of the Australian Defence Force, told CNN's Kate Bolduan on Tuesday. "I think eventually, something will come to light, but it's going to take time." 
 
 The search resumed Thursday morning as a Chinese military plane took off for the search area in the southern Indian Ocean, Australian authorities said. 
 
 Six military reconnaissance planes -- from Australia, the United States, China and Japan -- and five civilian aircraft are set to comb the vast search area again on Thursday. 
 
 Five ships -- one from Australia and four from China -- also are in the search zone, Australian authorities said. 
 
 What role did pilots play? 
 
 An ongoing FBI review of the missing jet's pilots' hard drives, including the captain's flight simulator, has not turned up a "smoking gun," a U.S. official with knowledge of the investigation told CNN. 
 
 "They have accessed the data," the official said. "There is nothing that's jumping out and grabbing us right now." 
 
 The official would not reveal what was on the hard drive, but said the Malaysia Airlines pilot did not encrypt any of the files nor did he appear to go to any great lengths to scrub the hard drive when he deleted files last month. 
 
 FBI Director James Comey said earlier Wednesday that he expects the information would be handed over to the Malaysians in the next day or two. "I have teams working literally around the clock to try and exploit that,'' Comey said. "I don't want to say more about that in an open setting. But I expect it to be done fairly shortly within a day or two, to finish that work." 
 
 The information retrieved from the hard drives will hopefully give investigators leads to follow regarding the pilot's backgrounds, such as their finances and emotional state and who they had been communicating with. 
 
 U.S. investigators continue to be baffled by the plane's disappearance, with one U.S. official saying, "I don't think there is a prevailing theory. There are counterarguments to every theory right now." 
 
 Investigators are still focusing on the pilots, even though no physical evidence, such as a suicide note, has been found in their homes that would suggest they were planning the plane's disappearance. One of the main reasons for the continued focus on the pair is that there is nothing else explaining what happened, sources say. 
 
 Citing an anonymous high-ranking officer attached to a special investigative branch of Malaysian police in Kuala Lumpur, USA Today reported Wednesday that investigators believe the plane's captain was "solely responsible for the flight being taken hundreds of miles off course." 
 
 Investigators are now pressing Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah 's family for more details, USA Today world news editor William Dermody told CNN. 
 
 "Some of it's process of elimination," Dermody said. "They can't find any other rationale for it, and according to the evidence they have thus far, they don't believe that the plane was mechanically disabled. They feel that it had to have been done manually, and the only person who could have done that on the plane was the pilot." 
 
 But a senior Malaysian government official told CNN law enforcement analyst Tom Fuentes that they have found nothing negative so far in 19 days of investigating the two pilots that leads them to any motive, be it political, suicidal or extremist. 
 
 "The people in the cockpit are a top priority," a senior U.S. government official said. "We are heavily dependent on the Malaysians to do a deep dive on personal lives." 
 
 Another U.S. official said nothing was flagged after a study of the passengers onboard the plane and that "no terrorism stuff is moving forward" at this stage in the investigation. 
 
 The hardware 
 
 If search teams are able to find debris confirmed to be from the plane, it will help officials figure out roughly where the aircraft went down. 
 
 They would then be able to focus the search under the water to try to find larger pieces of wreckage and the all-important flight data recorder, which may hold vital clues about what happened the night the plane disappeared. 
 
 U.S. hardware designed to help with that task arrived Wednesday in Perth, the western Australian city that is the base for the search efforts. 
 
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 The United States sent a Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle, which can search for submerged objects at depths as low as 14,700 feet (about 4,500 meters), and a TPL-25, a giant listening device that can help pinpoint the location of pings from the flight data recorder. Towed behind a ship, the TPL-25 can detect pings at a maximum depth of 20,000 feet (about 6,100 meters). 
 
 The Indian Ocean has an average depth of about 13,000 feet (about 4,000 meters). 
 
 Time is against that part of the search, though, as the pingers that send signals from the plane's voice and date recorders are expected to run out of power within the next two weeks. 
 
 That doesn't mean the recorders can't be found, but it would complicate the investigation. Searchers found the recorders from Air France Flight 447 two years after the plane's 2009 crash, long after the battery died. 
 
 The families 
 
 The wait for answers about what happened to the plane and where it is now has taken a toll on the relatives of those on the flight. 
 
 Chinese kin have been particularly upset by Malaysian authorities' announcement Monday , based on analysis of satellite data, that the plane had crashed into the southern Indian Ocean with the loss of all lives aboard. 
 
 "It is still theory, and it's just still analysis" said Stephen Wang, whose mother was on the missing flight. "No one have seen anything." 
 
 Many relatives of those missing haven't accepted the theory, and still think their loved ones might still be alive, Wang told CNN's Pauline Chiou. 
 
 "To me, I think it might be 5% that there is still hope, but most of the families don't believe that it might be bad news," Wang said. "Most of the families still think that there will be hope." 
 
 On Wednesday, some families accused Malaysia Airlines of falling short of its promises to provide volunteer caregivers and accommodations for some family members. The airline couldn't immediately be reached for comment and did not send a representative to a news conference Wednesday. 
 
 The complaints came a day after hundreds of Flight 370 family members marched to the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing -- the flight's destination -- to voice their anger and frustration. 
 
 Some said the Malaysian government was covering up the truth and demanded tangible evidence the plane had ended up in the ocean. 
 
 The Chinese government, whose citizens made up two-thirds of the passengers on board the missing plane, also said it wanted more information from Malaysia. President Xi Jinping has sent a special envoy to Kuala Lumpur to deal with the matter. 
 
 Malaysian officials met with the Chinese envoy, said Hishammuddin, the transport minister, and briefed them extensively on the analysis of the satellite data that led to the crash conclusion. 
 
 The backlash 
 
 The Malaysians' comments appeared to have done little to placate the anger among the families, however, and it appeared to be spreading more widely among the Chinese public. 
 
 Some Chinese celebrities used social media to urge people to boycott Malaysian products and visits to the country. 
 
 Chen Kun, one of China's most popular actors, accused the Malaysian government and Malaysia Airlines of "clownish prevarication and lies." His post Tuesday calling for a boycott was reposted more than 65,000 times on Weibo, China's Twitter-like microblogging platform. 
 
 "I've never been to Malaysia, and I will no longer plan to go there anymore," Meng Fei, the host of one of China's most popular TV shows, wrote Wednesday on Weibo, calling for others to repost the comments if they felt the same. More than 120,000 users did. 
 
 Other social media users, albeit with smaller followings, argued against punishing Malaysia over the matter. 
 
 Chen Shu, a journalist, warned that a boycott would "hurt the relationship of Chinese and Malaysians" and long-term regional ties. 
 
 Chinese authorities regularly censor Weibo posts. The fact the anti-Malaysian posts by high-profile users weren't deleted suggested either tacit approval or at least an unwillingness to wade into the debate by Chinese government censors. 
 
 Hishammuddin, however, praised his country's performance, saying officials had overcome significant diplomatic challenges to bring together 26 countries, at one point, to participate in the search. 
 
 "History will judge us well," he said. ||||| Story highlights U.S. equipment to help find the plane's locator beacon arrives in Perth 
 
 Wife of passenger: "I can't trust the Malaysian government" 
 
 Weather in search area is expected to worsen again Thursday 
 
 Indian Ocean search resumes; aircraft and boats from six countries participating 
 
 Cheng Li Ping is afraid to tell her sons their father might never come home. 
 
 "My heart can't handle it. I don't want to hurt my children," the Chinese woman told CNN Wednesday as she waited in Kuala Lumpur for evidence about what happened to her husband and the 238 others who were aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. 
 
 Cheng says she cannot bring herself to accept that her husband is dead, even after authorities announced there were no survivors. 
 
 "I can't trust the Malaysian government. I can't work now because all I can think about is my husband and my children," she told CNN's Sara Sidner in Kuala Lumpur. "I don't have strength. ... My head is a mess." 
 
 Malaysian officials say they can tell you how Flight 370 ended. It crashed into the Indian Ocean, they'll say, citing complicated math as proof. 
 
 They can tell you when it probably happened -- on March 8, sometime between 8:11 and 9:15 a.m. (7:11 to 8:15 p.m. ET March 7), handing you a sheet with extraordinarily technical details about satellite communications technology. 
 
 What they still can't tell you is why, or precisely where, or show you a piece of the wreckage. 
 
 All those uncertainties are too much for Cheng and other relatives of people aboard the plane. 
 
 In Beijing, outraged family members marched to the Malaysian Embassy to denounce the airline, the country and just about everything involved with an investigation that has transfixed the world and vexed experts. 
 
 Steve Wang, whose mother was aboard the flight, told reporters he felt there was "no evidence" that the passenger jet crashed in the Indian Ocean. 
 
 "If you find something: OK, we accept," he said. "But nothing -- just from the data, just from analysis." 
 
 Photos: The search for MH370 Photos: The search for MH370 Two years after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 went missing, a relative of one of the passengers burns incense in Beijing on March 8, 2016. Flight 370 vanished on March 8, 2014, as it flew from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. There were 239 people on board. Hide Caption 1 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 On July 29, police carry a piece of debris on Reunion Island, a French territory in the Indian Ocean. A week later, authorities confirmed that the debris was from the missing flight. Hide Caption 2 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Staff members with the Australian Transport Safety Bureau examine a piece of aircraft debris at their laboratory in Canberra, Australia, on July 20. The flap was found in June by residents on Pemba Island off the coast of Tanzania, and officials had said it was highly likely to have come from Flight 370. Experts at the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, which is heading up the search for the plane, confirmed that the part was indeed from the missing aircraft. Hide Caption 3 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 In late February, American tourist Blaine Gibson found a piece of plane debris off Mozambique, a discovery that renewed hope of solving the mystery of the missing flight. The piece measured 35 inches by 22 inches. A U.S. official said it was likely the wreckage came from a Boeing 777, which MH370 was. Hide Caption 4 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Relatives of the flight's passengers console each other outside the Malaysia Airlines office in Subang, Malaysia, on February 12, 2015. Protesters had demanded that the airline withdraw the statement that all 239 people aboard the plane were dead. Hide Caption 5 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A police officer watches a couple cry outside the airline's office building in Beijing after officials refused to meet with them on June 11, 2014. The couple's son was on the plane. Hide Caption 6 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Members of the media scramble to speak with Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, director general of Malaysia's Civil Aviation Department, at a hotel in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on May 27, 2014. Data from communications between satellites and the missing flight was released the day before, more than two months after relatives of passengers said they requested it be made public. Hide Caption 7 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Operators aboard the Australian ship Ocean Shield move Bluefin-21, the U.S. Navy's autonomous underwater vehicle, into position to search for the jet on April 14, 2014. Hide Caption 8 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks out of a window while searching for debris off the coast of western Australia on April 13, 2014. Hide Caption 9 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 The HMS Echo, a vessel with the British Roya; Navy, moves through the waters of the southern Indian Ocean on April 12, 2014. Hide Caption 10 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion, on a mission to drop sonar buoys to assist in the search, flies past the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 9, 2014. Hide Caption 11 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A relative of a missing passenger cries at a vigil in Beijing on April 8, 2014. Hide Caption 12 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Australian Defense Force divers scan the water for debris in the southern Indian Ocean on April 7, 2014. Hide Caption 13 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A towed pinger locator is readied to be deployed off the deck of the Australian vessel Ocean Shield on April 7, 2014. Hide Caption 14 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force looks at a flare in the Indian Ocean during search operations on April 4, 2014. Hide Caption 15 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 On March 30, 2014, a woman in Kuala Lumpur prepares for an event in honor of those aboard Flight 370. Hide Caption 16 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 The sole representative for the families of Flight 370 passengers leaves a conference at a Beijing hotel on March 28, 2014, after other relatives left en masse to protest the Malaysian government's response to their questions. Hide Caption 17 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Royal Australian Air Force is silhouetted against the southern Indian Ocean during the search for the missing jet on March 27, 2014. Hide Caption 18 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Flight Lt. Jayson Nichols looks at a map aboard a Royal Australian Air Force aircraft during a search on March 27, 2014. Hide Caption 19 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 People in Kuala Lumpur light candles during a ceremony held for the missing flight's passengers on March 27, 2014. Hide Caption 20 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, delivers a statement about the flight on March 24, 2014. Razak's announcement came after the airline sent a text message to relatives saying it "deeply regrets that we have to assume beyond any reasonable doubt that MH 370 has been lost and that none of those onboard survived." Hide Caption 21 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Grieving relatives of missing passengers leave a hotel in Beijing on March 24, 2014. Hide Caption 22 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A passenger views a weather map in the departures terminal of Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 22, 2014. Hide Caption 23 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Chinese satellite captured this image, released on March 22, 2014, of a floating object in the Indian Ocean, according to China's State Administration of Science. It was a possible lead in the search for the missing plane. Surveillance planes were looking for two objects spotted by satellite imagery in remote, treacherous waters more than 1,400 miles from the west coast of Australia. Hide Caption 24 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Satellite imagery provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority on March 20, 2014, showed debris in the southern Indian Ocean that could have been from Flight 370. The announcement by Australian officials raised hopes of a breakthrough in the frustrating search. Hide Caption 25 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Another satellite shot provided by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority shows possible debris from the flight. Hide Caption 26 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A distraught relative of a missing passenger breaks down while talking to reporters at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 19, 2014. Hide Caption 27 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 On March 18, 2014, a relative of a missing passenger tells reporters in Beijing about a hunger strike to protest authorities' handling of information about the missing jet. Hide Caption 28 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 U.S. Navy crew members assist in search-and-rescue operations in the Indian Ocean on March 16, 2014. Hide Caption 29 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Members of the Chinese navy continue search operations on March 13, 2014. After starting in the sea between Malaysia and Vietnam, the plane's last confirmed location, search efforts expanded west into the Indian Ocean. Hide Caption 30 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Vietnamese military official looks out an aircraft window during search operations March 13, 2014. Hide Caption 31 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysian air force members look for debris near Kuala Lumpur on March 13, 2014. Hide Caption 32 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Relatives of missing passengers wait for the latest news at a hotel in Beijing on March 12, 2014. Hide Caption 33 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A member of the Vietnamese air force checks a map while searching for the missing plane on March 11, 2014. Hide Caption 34 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A Vietnamese air force plane found traces of oil that authorities had suspected to be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Vietnamese government online newspaper reported on March 8, 2014. However, a sample from the slick showed it was bunker oil, typically used to power large cargo ships, Malaysia's state news agency, Bernama, reported on March 10, 2014. Hide Caption 35 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A U.S. Navy Seahawk helicopter lands aboard the USS Pinckney to change crews on March 9, 2014, before returning to search for the missing plane in the Gulf of Thailand. Hide Caption 36 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Buddhist monks at Kuala Lumpur International Airport offer a special prayer for the missing passengers on March 9, 2014. Hide Caption 37 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Members of a Chinese emergency response team board a rescue vessel at the port of Sanya in China's Hainan province on March 9, 2014. Hide Caption 38 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 The rescue vessel sets out from Sanya in the South China Sea on March 9, 2014. Hide Caption 39 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, center, arrives to meet family members of missing passengers at the reception center at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on March 8, 2014. Hide Caption 40 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 A relative of two missing passengers reacts at their home in Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014. Hide Caption 41 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Chinese police at the Beijing airport stand beside the arrival board showing delayed Flight 370 in red on March 8, 2014. Hide Caption 42 of 43 Photos: The search for MH370 Malaysia Airlines Group CEO Ahmad Juahari Yahya, front, speaks during a news conference at a hotel in Sepang on March 8, 2014. "We deeply regret that we have lost all contacts" with the jet, he said. Hide Caption 43 of 43 
 
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 Cheng says the authorities' answers to questions don't make sense. 
 
 "They have been hiding the truth," she said. "Even though they know the truth, they have been delaying it and missed out on the golden time for the search." 
 
 Malaysia Airlines says it is giving the families all the information it can and is sharing it as quickly as possible. And authorities say they know the news is hard to take. But Tuesday, acting Malaysian Transportation Minister Hishammuddin Hussein defended the decision to release the analysis and the heartbreaking conclusions that flowed from it. 
 
 "It was released out of a commitment to openness and respect for the relatives, two principles which have guided the investigation," he said. 
 
 That investigation now focuses on an area of the southern Indian Ocean off Australia's west coast, where authorities believe the plane went down after a long, odd, unexplained flight that should have ended hours before in Beijing. 
 
 Searching there resumed Wednesday after bad weather grounded planes for a day. 
 
 Hishammuddin said authorities have stopped searching for the plane altogether along a northern arc that stretched from Vietnam to Kazakhstan. Analysis of data by British satellite company Inmarsat and British accident investigators show the Boeing 777-200ER was heading south at last contact, he said. 
 
 Commercial satellite data from a U.S. company, first analyzed by Australian officials, as well as satellite data from China and France, have turned up evidence of debris bobbing in the general area where authorities believe the plane went down. 
 
 Australian and Chinese surveillance planes have both reported seeing debris on the water, but so far nothing has been recovered or definitively linked to the missing flight. 
 
 Authorities cautioned that despite the narrowing the search area, it could still be some time before crews find any sign of the airplane. 
 
 "We're not searching for a needle in a haystack," Mark Binskin, vice chief of the Australian Defence Force, told reporters. "We're still trying to define where the haystack is." 
 
 Search resumes after weather delay 
 
 After bad weather halted the hunt for a day, searching resumed Wednesday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. 
 
 A Chinese plane took off for the search area in the Indian Ocean at 5 a.m. Wednesday (5 p.m. ET Tuesday), several hours ahead of schedule, the authority said. 
 
 Gale-force winds, large waves, heavy rain and low clouds lashed the search area Tuesday, making it impossible to dispatch surveillance planes to the scene and making it all but impossible to spot anything from ships. 
 
 "It's a pretty remote area and weather conditions can get very, very bad, very, very quickly," said Neil Bennett of the Australian Bureau of Meteorology. "At the moment, we're looking at a good day today, but we are expecting conditions to deteriorate again tomorrow." 
 
 Wednesday's search is set to include ships and aircraft from six countries: Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Japan, China and South Korea. 
 
 Twelve aircraft will be part of the search, Australian officials said. 
 
 Australia's HMAS Success and China's Xue Long polar supply ship are also in the search area, officials said. 
 
 U.S. equipment to help find the plane's locator beacon arrived in Perth on Wednesday. 
 
 But even with more searchers and equipment and calmer weather, the effort will still face severe challenges. 
 
 The area is extraordinarily remote -- some 1,500 miles from Perth, where military surveillance planes capable of searching the site are based. It is also astoundingly large --- some 400,000 to 500,000 square miles of ocean. 
 
 "With eight hours of flying to and from the search region, the fleet of P-3 Orion aircraft and other military aircraft have only a precious few hours to scour the search tracks they have been given," Australian Defence Minister David Johnston said. 
 
 To complicate matters, debris that may have been floating days ago, when some of the satellite images were taken, could have sunk by now. Other debris may have drifted hundreds of miles. 
 
 And time is running out to find the flight data recorder, whose locator beacon is expected to stop working sometime around April 7. 
 
 More than half a million square kilometers (193,000 square miles) have been searched to date, Australian authorities said. 
 
 Crash conclusion explained 
 
 Hishammuddin spent part of Tuesday's briefing explaining how investigators came to the conclusion that the plane must have gone into the southern Indian Ocean. 
 
 He said the analysis was based on sophisticated mathematics calculating how long it took signals from a transmitter on the plane to reach an orbiting Inmarsat communications satellite. 
 
 Much like the horn from a passing car whose pitch rises as it approaches and then falls as it races away, engineers were able examine the satellite's signal and determine it had to be moving south, he said. 
 
 Engineers checked their calculations against data from other Boeing 777 flights that day and found their technique was sound, he said. 
 
 One mystery remains in the data: The plane's transmitter and satellite tried to make one final connection at 8:19 a.m. 
 
 "At this time this transmission is not understood and is subject to further ongoing work," he said. 
 
 The analysis shows that the plane didn't answer a ping from the satellite ground station at 9:15 a.m. (8:15 p.m. ET), leading investigators to conclude the plane's satellite transmitter stopped working sometime between 8:11 and 9:15 a.m. 
 
 "This," Hishammuddin said, "is consistent with the maximum endurance of the aircraft." 
 
 That partial ping could be a key detail that helps investigators unravel what happened, experts said Tuesday. 
 
 "I think it's very significant," CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien said. "This is the last time we hear from the aircraft. You have to wonder what was going on that might have sparked (it)." 
 
 Malaysia has convened an international working group to help further narrow the search area. It involves agencies with "expertise in satellite communications and aircraft performance," he said. 
 
 It will build on the existing analysis of satellite data in hopes of pinpointing a more exact location for the plane's location. 
 
 What happened to cause the plane to veer off course and presumably crash into the Indian Ocean hours after it was supposed to arrive in Beijing remains unknown. Authorities and analysts have speculated anything from mechanical failure to terrorism to pilot suicide could have played a role. 
 
 Police have interviewed scores of people, and the Royal Malaysian Air Force is conducting its own inquiry into the disappearance, authorities say. 
 
 Anguished families react 
 
 The Malaysian government's announcement was met with anger by relatives, many of whom said it was premature to declare their loved ones dead before locating any wreckage or bodies. Others accused Malaysian officials of lying or concealing facts. 
 
 Relatives first learned of the conclusion that the plane had crashed via a text message sent to their cell phones. Malaysian authorities followed up with briefings for families in Beijing and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 
 
 In Beijing, hundreds of friends and family members of missing passengers marched to the Malaysian Embassy to express their anger and frustration. 
 
 Uniformed police blocked journalists from joining the protesters as they approached the gates of the embassy. One woman in the crowd, overcome by stress and emotion, was carried to a nearby ambulance on a stretcher. 
 
 Malaysian officials said they are doing all they can. 
 
 Prime Minister Najib Razak explained Tuesday that he decided to make his official announcement Monday because he did not want the government to be seen as hiding information on purpose from the families of the missing passengers. 
 
 In an address to Parliament in Kuala Lumpur, he said his statement was based on "the most conclusive information we have." 
 
 Malaysia Airlines said Tuesday it has offered family members financial support of $5,000 for each passenger aboard the ill-fated flight and was preparing to make additional payments as the prolonged search continues. 
 
 CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told reporters the airline shares in the families' grief. 
 
 "We all feel enormous sorrow and pain," he said Tuesday. "Sorrow that all those who boarded Flight MH370 on Saturday 8th March, will not see their families again. And that those families will now have to live on without those they love."
– A Pennsylvania-sized patch of the Indian Ocean has been combed in a $150 million search effort for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370—and that search is now coming to a close with the mystery still unsolved. The last boat still looking for the plane left the Australian port of Fremantle on Tuesday to scan areas that might have been missed during the initial search because of sonar issues or too-deep water, reports Perth Now. If no fresh evidence or trace of the plane has been found once its month-long mission wraps up, no future search missions will likely follow, reports NBC News. Though officials "remain hopeful," Australia's transport minister says that "we have to prepare ourselves for the prospect" that MH370, which disappeared in March 2014, will not be found, per the BBC. Relatives of MH370's 239 victims plan to continue hunting for evidence of what happened to their loved ones, however. Frustrated by a lack of activity from Malaysian officials, family members from Malaysia, China, and France have banded together to search for debris, including on remote beaches in Madagascar, where Jiang Hui, 44, of China says he recently found a possible plane part. "I felt excited but at the same time it was saddening," he tells the Guardian. "It is a small piece and will not really be able to show what happened to the plane, but I hope so much that the authorities … will try to find more." Relatives have also handed out brochures in three languages that explain to locals what to do if plane parts are found, per the BBC. (Here's what debris has revealed so far.)