The latest lead, to come out of Australia during the search and rescue (SAR) mission of the missing MH370 plane, is "slightly different” from previous leads obtained.

This, said acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, was because the information received of two objects detected by satellites in the southern Indian Ocean was corroborated “to a certain extent” with other satellites.

“The information we have received from the Australian authorities have been corroborated to a certain extend from other satellites. That makes it slightly different from those other leads,” Hishammuddin, who is also the defence minister, said during a scheduled press conference at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Thursday.

Referring to the latest lead announced by Australian prime minister earlier on Thursday, as ‘credible’ repeatedly, Hishammuddin, however, was cautious in labeling it as the ‘best lead so far’ — the term used earlier by Australian authorities.

Nevertheless, he stressed that the government treated all leads with the same level of importance, and added that it must be corroborated further, as "if found false, it would give false hope to the families.”

To date, numerous claims based on satellite images emerged since the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 on March 8. However, these leads were later debunked.

Previous false leads

The most notable lead was of 'three floating objects' detected by satellites on March 9 in the South China Sea.

This lead was however clarified by both Malaysian and Chinese officials as information that was ‘wrongly leaked’.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a claim was made by an IT analyst from India, of satellite images of a plane that could be MH370. This information was later disputed as the images may have been taken between 2009 and 2012.

There is also now a big movement of people around the word involved in ‘crowdsourcing’, manually combing through satellite data to help find the plane.

With this new the new piece of information, Hishammuddin said search in the area – some 2,500km southwest of Perth is being ‘intensified’.

The search and rescue operation including both the northern and southern corridors have not ‘de-intensified’, he explained.

“Today what I am comfortable with saying that it is credible, (however) it needs to be looked through overnight, and corroborated…,” said Hishammuddin.

He said everyone is awaiting the latest reports from the assets that have been deployed to the area and assured that information will be delivered swiftly.

“Believe it, when we receive news, we will inform you,” he said.