A Chinese air force plane searching for missing Malaysian passenger jet MH370 spotted a number of white floating objects in the search area Saturday.

The plane photographed the objects over a period of 20 minutes after spotting them at 11:05 local time.

An Australian pilot on board the plane reported the information to the Joint Agency Coordination Center (JACC), which is coordinating the massive multinational search in the southern Indian Ocean.

The plane, taking off at 6:04, was the first to leave Perth International Airport for the day's seach schedule. It arrived at the designated area, about 2,700 kilometers from Perth, at 09:55.

Search conditions were difficult with gales of 4-5 m/sec, waves of 1 to 2 meters and a cloud ceiling of about 200 meters.

The plane returned to the airport at 14:20.