Missing MH370: Search intensifies on new debris sighting

A handout image released 24 March 2014 by the Australian Department of Defence shows Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Sergeant Chris Platt operating the electro-optic station onboard an AP-3C Orion over the southern Indian Ocean as part of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority-led search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, on 23 March 2014. - EPA

PERTH (Australia): Ships and planes from several nations swarmed over the southern Indian Ocean on Monday as mounting evidence of floating debris energised the search for Malaysia's missing passenger jet. 

But the challenge of recovering the elusive and still-unidentified flotsam took on added urgency as a tropical cyclone loomed to the north, threatening to worsen already rough conditions that have thwarted spotters.