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A man with the surname Zou said the news about the possible debris meant there was now only an extremely small chance that his son had survived.

Hong Lei, spokesman of China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said during a news briefing on Thursday that the country "highly values the latest information provided by Australian authorities and hopes the Australian government could dispatch search teams to the suspected area as soon as possible."

Dimensions of the Boeing 777-200ER Wing span: 60.9 metres Overall length: 63.7 metres Tail height: 18.5 metres Fuselage diameter: 6.19 metres

A Boeing 777 pilot with Malaysia Airlines who spoke on the condition of anonymity said that the 24-meter-long object could be one of the wings of the aircraft, which is about 60 meters in length and 60 meters in width including both wings.

Boeing China said that major components usually have numbers which would allow investigators to determine which airplane they are from, and that the company could "easily identify" any objects that were airplane parts to determine if they belonged to flight MH370.

Australia has taken the lead in the search for the plane over the southern Indian Ocean after the Malaysian government expanded the search area – which now covers a northern sector around the borders of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and northern Thailand, and a southern sector stretching from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

Hishammuddin said the Royal Australian Navy ship HMAS Success is en route to the area where the objects were spotted but is some days away. And he also said the ship is well equipped for such a mission.

In addition, a merchant ship that responded to a shipping broadcast issued by RCC Australia on Monday was also expected to arrive in the area on Thursday afternoon.

Twenty-five aircraft and 18 ships from several countries are conducting the search in the southern sector.

Hou Liqiang and Wang Wen in Beijing contributed to the story