CRI听力:China Urges Search Efforts after Malaysia's Announcement

The Chinese government is demanding Malaysian authorities provide them all the evidence which has led them to the conclusion that missing flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

CRI's Jordan Lee has more.

Reporter: It was a solemn announcement on the 18th day of the search for the missing plane.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak terminated any remaining hopes for MH370's survival at an unscheduled conference late last night in Kuala Lumpur.

"It is therefore with deep sadness and regret, that I must inform you that according to this new data, flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean."

The Malaysian Prime Minister says UK telecommunications company Inmarsat has studied satellite data it received from so-called "pings" from the plane, concluding that the aircraft plunged into the southern Indian Ocean around 6-hours after it first veered off its scheduled flight path to Beijing.

Najib Razak says he felt obligated to inform people of the latest developments at the earliest opportunity.

He's also pledged to hold another news conference later today to provide further details.

The sudden and unexpected news has sent a wave of shock and anger through the families of the 154 missing from China.

"During the past 18 days since March 8th, when Malaysia Airlines announced that it had lost contact with MH370, Malaysia Airlines, the government of Malaysia, and the military forces of Malaysia have concealed, delayed and hidden the truth from the relatives and the people of the world. This despicable act aimed to fool the relatives of the 154 Chinese passengers has devastated us physically and mentally, while misleading and delaying the rescue operation, wasting a lot of manpower, material resources and leading to the loss of precious rescue time. Here the relatives of the 154 passengers aboard the Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight, condemn in the strongest possible way and protest against Malaysia Airlines, the government of Malaysia and the military of Malaysia."

Those who watched the announcement at the Lido Hotel here in Beijing wept with grief, with some taken away on stretchers by medical teams.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry is now demanding Malaysian authorities brief them on the evidence and information which has led them to their deadly conclusion.

The Chinese government is also calling on Malaysia and other countries involved to keep up the search, despite the latest pronouncements.

At the same time, Chinese maritime authorities promised to send move vessels to the waters of the southern Indian Ocean to both search and potentially salvage the wreckage of the missing jet.

In the waters off southwest Australia, a number of new discoveries have been made on Monday.

Chinese, French and Australian searchers have all reported spotting floating debris on Monday, possibly related to the missing jetliner.

Lieutenant Josh Williams is with the Royal Australian Air Force.

"The first object was rectangular in shape slightly below the ocean, second object was circular also slightly below the ocean. We came across a long cylindrical object, that was probably maybe 2 meters, possibly 2 meters long, about 30 centimeters across. We came across another, well another item in the area, that was also cylindrical and shaped in a rough fish hook."

Chinese authorities have diverted the icebreaker Xuelong toward the location where the debris has been spotted.

A ship carrying a special equipment to detect the plane's flight-data recorder, the so-called black box, is also on its way to the area.

For CRI, I'm Jordon Lee.

For more on the latest revelations and what we can expect next, we spoke earlier this morning with Nadiah Abdul Aziz, reporter based in Kuala Lumpur.