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This episode is a really sad one. But I think Malaysia is united regardless of religion because it is a Malaysian plane that went missing and there are Malaysians onboard.

- A 30-year-old Sarawak policeman, who gave his name as Elias

I really hope everyone onboard that flight is alive and they can be found as soon as possible. We will be praying for their safe return.

- Kajang resident Lim Yew Huat, 60, at a multi-faith prayer session organised by the Malaysian Chinese Association

While Malaysians from all walks of life pray for those on board MH370, Australia announced that it has found what could be debris from the plane some 2,400km from Perth.

A United States aircraft has picked up radar hits of "significant size" in the Indian Ocean where satellite images had earlier spotted debris possibly belonging to the missing Malaysian Airlines plane, ABC News reported.

According to a news outlet, the flight crew of the US Navy's P-8 Poseidon aircraft said the radar data shows that "there is something down there", beneath the surface of the water.

But US navy commander William Marks told ABC News that the radar hits picked up are typical and was not connected to the missing flight.

Meanwhile, the Malay Mail Online reported that several planes and ships from the Royal Australian Air Force, Royal New Zealand Air Force and the US Navy have been deployed to the area where the debris was seen.

Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) Emergency Response division general manager John Young said this is the "best lead" so far in the search for missing aircraft, which entered the 13th day yesterday.

TO BE CONFIRMED

But he quickly added that there was a need to ascertain if the debris was related to MH370.

Mr Young said AMSA's Research Coordination Centre had first received the satellite images. An expert assessment from the Australian Geospatial-Intelligence organisation later confirmed that the largest piece of debris was about 24m long.

There were other pieces of debris spotted within the same field, which is south of the search area undertaken by Australia.

However, the maritime official would not reveal further details.

"They may not be related to the aircraft," he said, urging for caution.

There has been a relentless spread of speculation and conspiracy theories since the plane's disappearance nearly two weeks ago.

To help confirm the findings, the Research Coordination Centre has tasked a C-130 Hercules aircraft to drop marker buoys in the vicinity.

The marker buoys will help provide information about water movement to assist in drift modelling, Mr Young said.

The Australian discovery is the latest in the string of leads that have emerged since the plane went off the radar on March 8.

The Beijing-bound aircraft carrying 239 people, including crew, went missing about 45 minutes after it left the Kuala Lumpur International Airport after midnight.