No sign of mystery objects

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CNN) -- A day that began with high hopes ended with uncertainty late Thursday as darkness ended the search for two objects in the Indian Ocean captured on satellite and described as possible debris from missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.nAircraft from Australia, New Zealand and the United States will resume the search Friday, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. Sailors aboard a massive Norwegian cargo ship summoned to join the search will continue to work throughout the night, said Erik Gierchsky, a spokesman for the Norwegian Shipowners Association. "All men are on deck to continue the search," he told CNN. "They are using lights and binoculars."

Hindered by poor weather in a wild, remote area of the southern Indian Ocean, neither the surveillance planes nor the Norwegian ship had managed to spot the debris photographed Sunday by a commercial satellite. Even before suspending the search for the day, authorities cautioned the objects could be something other than plane wreckage, such as shipping containers that fell off a passing vessel. But they said they represent the best lead so far in the search for the airliner that vanished 13 days ago with 239 passengers and crew en route from Malaysia's capital city of Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. "At least there is a credible lead," Malaysia's interim Transportation Secretary Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters. "That gives us hope. As long as there's hope, we will continue."

Australian officials first announced the news to the world in a briefing closely watched by relatives of some of the missing at the Lido hotel in Beijing. They gathered around a large-screen television to watch the Australian news conference, leaning forward in their chairs, hanging on every word. Some sighed loudly. Wen Wancheng, 63, of Jinan, China, said he has not given up hope that his son is still alive. "I firmly believe that my son, together with everyone on board, will all survive," he told CNN. While Hishammuddin said efforts are intensifying around the site of the Australian discovery, he said the search will continue across the massive search zone until authorities can give the families answers. "For the families around the world, the one piece of information that they want most is the information we just don't have: the location of MH370," he said.