Ships were sent to verify the sighting of a yellow floating object that search teams thought could be a life raft from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane. They have confirmed that it is not debris from the aircraft.

Malaysia’s acting transport minister and defence minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, has made a plea to the media and the public not to spread unverified and false news “that affects the search and rescue operation and distracts us from the work at hand and is unfair to families”.

He said the Malaysian authorities had nothing to hide and would pass on information, including photographs, about the two suspect passengers on flight MH370 as soon as it was possible.

Mr Hishammuddin said he met United States intelligence personnel yesterday and shared biometric and background information about the two passengers who were travelling on stolen passports, and visual images of them obtained on CCTV at the airport.

This information is also being shared with other international agencies.

The material had to be digested by investigating agencies before it could be released, Mr Hishammuddin said.

He added that New Zealand had sent an Orion aircraft to assist in the search operations. Singapore, Australia, the United States, and China are already involved.