Top U.S. search plane unable to find objects spotted by Chinese - AMSA

SYDNEY, March 24 (Reuters) - Australian authorities said a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon, the most advanced search aircraft in the world, had been unable to find objects spotted earlier on Monday by a Chinese aircraft hunting for clues to the missing Malaysia jet in the Indian Ocean.

"A US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft was tasked to investigate reported object sightings by the Chinese aircraft made at 33,000 ft," an AMSA spokeswoman said in an emailed response to Reuters.

"The objects were spotted by the Chinese aircraft as it was heading back to Perth. Drift modelling was undertaken on the sighting. The P-8 was unable to relocate the reported objects."

The Chinese Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft spotted two "relatively big" floating objects and several smaller white ones dispersed over several kilometers, the Xinhua news agency reported earlier.

(Reporting by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Nick Macfie)

((Lincoln.Feast@thomsonreuters.com)(+61 2 9373 1826)(Reuters Messaging: lincoln.feast.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

Keywords: MALAYASIA AIRLINES/AMSA