Chinese ships continue search for missing Malaysian flight

Chinese ships searching for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 focused their search on a rectangle-shaped search area in waters west of Australia's Perth Wednesday, said captain of the Chinese vessel Haixun 01. [Special coverage]

The new area, covering 220,000 square km with its center at about 29 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east longitude, is northeastward from the search area designated for Tuesday, said captain Jiang Long.

Seven planes and eight ships will assist in Wednesday's search for missing plane, the Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC) announced.

Four Chinese military vessels will be responsible for search in the southern part of the newly-designated area, while Haixun 01, Nanhaijiu 115 and Donghaijiu 101 will search in the northern patch, Xinhua has learned.

The Chinese ship Haixun 01 has found and ruled out 12 suspicious objects, and nothing related to the missing plane has been found so far, Jiang said Tuesday.