Ships near expected crash site found by NZ

DEVELOPING: The Royal New Zealand Airforce Orion aircraft has located the debris that is the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

Four ships are expected to be reaching the objects spotted by NZ which had been marked with a sonar buoy, the search efforts remain under Malaysian control however, being closer to Australia this has allowed New Zealand and Australia to conduct search efforts. 

The plane carrying 239 people, including six Australians and two New Zealanders, disappeared on March 8.

It was the New Zealand crew's first flight as the previous crew had returned home, Air Vice-Marshal Short said.

"They're pleased that for their first flight taking over from the previous crew, that they've actually found these objects, so their morale is very high," he said.

"It is always good when we find something, we get quite buoyant about that."

New radar data analysis prompted authorities to refocus the six-nation search 1100km to the northeast of its original location, and about 1850km west of Perth, following updated advice from the international investigation team in Malaysia.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority emergency response manager John Young said all search planes and ships had been moved to the new zone.

Any wreckage found would be handed over to Malaysian authorities.

This is breaking news, more to follow...