BEIJING: Chinese aircrew have spotted “suspicious objects” in the southern Indian Ocean in the search for vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the official Xinhua news agency said Monday.

The “white and square” objects were spotted by searchers aboard a Chinese Ilyushin-76 plane, it said.

“The crew has reported the coordinates — 95.1113 degrees east and 42.5453 south — to the Australian command centre as well as Chinese icebreaker Xuelong, which is en route to the sea area,” Xinhua said.

Earlier Xinhua reports said a Chinese military plane set off Monday morning from the western Australian city of Perth to seek “suspicious debris” captured by satellite imagery in the remote waters.

Flight MH370 disappeared from civilian radar 16 days ago, nearly an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing.

Chinese passengers comprised two-thirds of the 239 people aboard the Boeing-777.