A Chinese plane hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has spotted "suspicious" objects, state media say, as more nations joined the search.

Searchers saw two "relatively big" objects with "many white smaller ones scattered within a radius of several kilometres", Xinhua news agency said.

Australia said it had been informed and would try to locate the objects.

Flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 people on board.

Ten planes were scheduled to scour the southern Indian Ocean area on Monday for possible debris picked up earlier by radar echoes and satellite imagery.

Two Chinese military planes flew out to the search area, around 2,500 km (1,550 miles) south-west of Australian city Perth, on Monday morning, while two Japanese P-3 Orion aircraft set off later in the day.

They joined six other planes, including US and Australian military planes, in searching a 68,500 sq km (26,000 sq miles) area in the ocean.

An Australian navy ship is already in the area, while several Chinese ships are also on their way.(BBC)