Kuala Lumpur, March 22 (IANS): China is investigating new satellite images of a floating object, 30m by 22m, in the southern Indian Ocean, China Daily quoted a Malaysian minister as saying Saturday.

The announcement was made by Acting Minister of Transportation Hishammuddin Hussein in a daily press briefing.

The Chinese embassy in Malaysia confirmed that a Chinese satellite spotted a floating object along the southern corridor that the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 might have taken.

China has reported the discovery to Malaysia and Australia.

Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished mysteriously about an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur March 8.

The plane was scheduled to land in Beijing at 6.30 a.m. the same day. The 227 passengers included five Indians, 154 Chinese and 38 Malaysians.

Contact with the plane was lost along with its radar signal at 1.40 a.m. when it was flying over the air traffic control area of Ho Chi Minh City.

The search for the missing plane is now concentrated over a 23,000 sq km area in the southern Indian Ocean.