SEPANG, March 20 — Malaysia confirmed receiving information this morning of the debris sighting by Australian maritime officials and said the new lead, like all other leads, offers “hope” that MH370 may soon be located after nearly two weeks of searching.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters at Sama-Sama Hotel here that he “can confirm there is a lead”, adding he will be meeting the Australian delegation soon.

“This time I just hope it is a positive development,” he said when met here, after saying that Malaysia has been aware of “every single lead” since the plane went missing on March 8.

Saying that “every lead is a hope”, Hishammuddin confirmed that he was informed that assets were “deployed to the area to verify what has been found this morning”, adding that Malaysia was still waiting for verification and corroboration on the sighting.

In a press statement issued this afternoon, Hishammuddin confirmed that Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak received a phone call from his Australian counterpart, Tony Abbott, at 10am today of the sighting in the Southern Indian Ocean.

Hishammuddin also said that he had been briefed by the Australian High Commissioner on this matter.

“At this stage, Australian officials have yet to establish whether these objects are indeed related to the search for MH370,” he said in the brief statement issued earlier.

Today, Abbott told the Australian parliament of the “new and credible information” where two objects were spotted in the sea based on analysis of satellite images.

But he also said: “We must keep in mind the task of locating these objects will be extremely difficult and it may turn out that they are not related to the search for flight MH370.”

Later in a press conference broadcasted live, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said that satellite images showing two “indistinct” objects - with the larger one measuring 24 metres - provide the “best lead” investigators have in the search of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

It said it has directed search assets towards the location of the debris sighting some 2,500km off the coast of Perth in Western Australia, including three P3 Orions—two of its own and one from New Zealand — and an US P8 Poseidon.