Chinese and Australian ships searching for missing flight MH370 have picked up separate acoustic signals in different parts of the southern Indian Ocean and are trying to verify if one could be from the plane’s black box recorders.
Retired Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the international search, earlier said Chinese patrol vessel Haixun 01 picked up two “acoustic events” some 1,000 miles (1,600km) northwest of Perth.
The first was a faint signal. The second was picked up around 1.2 miles (2km) away and lasted for 90 seconds, he said. They had a “ping” of 37.5kHz frequency – the same emitted by black box flight recorders.
More planes and ships were sent to assist in that area, but in the meantime Australia’s HMAS Ocean Shield had reported a separate “acoustic event” some 345 miles (555km) away.
The Ocean Shield is carrying sophisticated US Navy equipment designed to pick up signals sent from the black boxes.
HMS Echo, which is also equipped with black box locators, is also on its way to the search area.
A Chinese air force plane has also spotted a number of white floating objects in the area, said Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
But Mr Houston stressed that investigators are still a “long way” from concluding the signals are from the Boeing 777 carrying 239 people
He said they are “an important and encouraging lead” and show “some promise and require a full investigation”.
Earlier, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott told reporters in Tokyo: “This is the most difficult search in human history.
“We are searching for an aircraft which is at the bottom of a very deep ocean and it is a very, very wide search area. We need to be very careful about coming to hard and fast conclusions too soon.”
Sky News
