A potential new development in the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 comes from China which has especially strong interest in locating the airliner which was carrying so many Chinese nationals on board. Late today, Chinese authorities released satellite photos, what they call a suspected crash site. They were taken on high definition cameras on the morning of March 9th, a day and a night after the Boeing 777 vanished on route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Three images in the open ocean, each showing floating objects. What precisely they are, that remains to be seen. We should point out there have been several false sites so far. What is intriguing is the location. 

According to the Chinese it's within a 20 kilometer or 12.5 mile radius of this spot on the map which corresponds closely to the point where controllers lost contact with the airliner radar transponder. But check it first with CNN's DM who joins us from Beijing. So these, these satellite images, what, what can you tell us about them? Do we have any idea why the Chinese government released them now? 

 

Anderson, that's a question I want answers. There are two things that trouble me. One is why this was released now. And the second is, really, why are we seeing these images that weren't shared necessarily with the Malaysian authorities? They say they took these photographs from satellite, high definition of the three large objects which were very close to the tracking path when that plane vanished over the sea on Saturday. It is now several days later and this appears to be a significant lead, Anderson. These are large objects. They call it a potential crash site. So it could help narrow the search as you said that is expanded widely in recent days. It gives some level of hope of closure for the many families here in Beijing who lost scores of loved ones. 

 

The size of the debris has raised some questions from aviation experts we've heard from already who say maybe the debris is actually too large given the size of the aircraft. But the Chinese, I mean, they seem to have been frustrated with the response by the Malaysian government. Could the release of these photos somehow be tied to that frustration, forcing the Malaysian government's hands somehow? 

 

That's a good point, Anderson. Yes, they've given very pointed statements toward the Malaysian government calling this search sometimes chaotic. They’ve also criticized Malaysians and other countries for giving out false leads and giving hope to these families here. So it might be that they've waited to release this information until they were absolutely sure it's significant. And we should also believe it's significant because of that. The Chinese are much more deliberate with these issues, so they would have carefully looked at these images; thought about what they could be before they released it out. But again because it was several days after they took these images, it's a troubling sign. They have also taken more satellites into that region to look at that whole area to figure out if there is anything that gives any lead to where to find this plane. But certainly significant on the part we believe of the plane where it vanished. So there'll be definitely ships, airplanes, everything going to that area, scouring it from a closer advantage point to see if it indeed is this crashed plane that everyone at this point wants to find, particularly the families here in Beijing.