Authorities are unable to connect debris or oil slick samples found off the coast of Vietnam to the missing jetliner.
Malaysian officials have confirmed that the laboratory analysis on the oil, which was first spotted on Saturday night, found that it was not connected to the vanished Malaysia Airlines jet.
Earlier a Vietnamese jet crew reported spotting a “possible life raft” floating in the sea around 250 miles off the country’s southern coast. The search and rescue helicopters to later found it was no more than “a moss-covered cap of cable reel”.
Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, the director-general of Malaysia’s Civil Aviation body, said officials were still trying hard with an “unprecedented aviation mystery” when he spoke at a press conference in Kuala Lumpur this morning.
“Unfortunately we have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft,” he said. “As far as we are concerned, we have to find the aircraft, we have to find a piece of the aircraft if possible.” Rescue crews are continuing to search for the jetliner, which departed from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing with 239 people on board. The plane lost contact with ground controllers Saturday between Malaysia and Vietnam.