Story highlights Satellite photos show man-made objects on water shortly after MH370 vanished

Area where photos were taken was not part of the original underwater search

(CNN) Newly-discovered satellite photos may have given scientists a fresh clue as to the location of Malaysian Airlines 370, one of the world's most famous aviation mysteries.

The four satellite photos, shot less than a month after MH370 disappeared in 2014, show 70 objects drifting on the ocean in the vicinity of the predicted crash zone, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) said Wednesday.

"(Geoscience Australia) analysis classified 12 objects as 'probably man-made' ... but cannot determine whether they are aircraft debris," the report said.

The photos were taken by the French military over the Indian Ocean on 23rd March 2014, just over two weeks after the plane vanished.

The ATSB, which received the images in March this year, said the satellite images were re-analyzed as "part of a systemic process of review that commenced in 2016."