China investigating new images of possible debris-Malaysia minister

KUALA LUMPUR, March 22 (Reuters) - Chinese satellites have spotted objects floating in the southern search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane that could be debris and has sent ships to investigate, Malaysia said on Saturday.

"Chinese ships have been dispatched to the area. Beijing is expected to make an announcement in a few hours," Malaysian Defence Minister and acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters.

One of the objects was very large, measuring 22 metres (72 feet) by 30 metres (98 feet), he said.

(Reporting by Siva Govindasamy and A.Ananthalakshmi; writing by Stuart Grudgings; Editing by Nick Macfie)

((tim.hepher@thomsonreuters.com)(+33 1 49 49 54 52)(Reuters Messaging: tim.hepher.thomsonreuters@reuters.net))

Keywords: MALAYSIA AIRLINES/CHINA