Objects lifted from the Indian Ocean by ships Saturday were not part of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370, officials said Sunday.  

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said items scooped from the sea by Chinese and Australian ships turned out to be fishing material or rubbish.  

Ten planes from Australia, Japan, China, Korea, United States and Malaysia were be engaged in the search in an area 1,850 kilometres west of Perth.  

Three Chinese and one Australian navy ship were already in the search area, to be joined today by a six more ships Sunday.  

Two Australian ships due to arrive in the area by Tuesday were carrying a helicopter and US-made "black box" locator equipment.  

It is a race against time to locate the voice and flight data recorders, because their batteries are set to run out on April 7.  

Former Australian military chief retired air chief marshal Angus Houston will lead a new joint agency coordination centre in Perth to oversee the international search, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.  

His role will be to coordinate operations among the several nations as well as keeping lines of communication open to families of the passengers, some of whom are expected to travel to Perth as the search continues.  

- dpa