Malaysian - 10. april



Malaysia plane MH370: Possible new signal in search

The possible signal was detected by an Australia P-3 Orion searching the southern Indian Ocean

A plane searching for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has detected a possible new signal in the southern Indian Ocean, Australian officials say.

An Australian P-3 Orion aircraft picked up the signal in the same area where an Australian vessel detected audio pings earlier this week, officials said.

The signal would require further analysis, but could have been from a "man-made source", officials said.

Flight MH370 vanished on 8 March, with 239 people on board.

The search zone was tightened on Thursday after a US navy "towed pinger locator" picked up audio signals in the area, sparking hopes that the plane's black box was in the area.

Australian vessel Ocean Shield picked up four acoustic signals in the area, twice over the weekend and twice on Tuesday.

Speaking after the latest possible signal was detected, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who is leading search efforts, said: "The acoustic data will require further analysis overnight but shows potential of being from a man-made source."

Hishammuddin Hussein: "I know there will be answers - I know we will find the plane - it's just a matter of when"

Up to 14 planes and 13 ships are involved in Thursday's search, scouring an area of 57,923 sq km (22 300 sq miles), around 2,280km (1,400 miles) north-west of Perth. It is the smallest designated area in the hunt to date.

Planes have dropped buoys equipped with hydrophone listening devices into the water to help pick up signals.

The batteries on the black box only last about a month, so teams need to work quickly to track the audio signals before they stop broadcasting. 





Jeg har tidligere stilt spørsmål ved de signalene kineserne angivelig gjorde 300NM fra det stedet der en nå tror flyet har havarert. Jeg så på video en mikrofon som ble satt ut fra en gummibåt fra morfartøyet, i det hele tatt en ganske håpløs affære. Så mottok de signaler. Jeg tror det hele var en bløff.

10 April 2014| last updated at 09:05AM

MH370 TRAGEDY: Hunt for black box signals zeroes in on 'final resting place'

PERTH (Australia): The hunt for more black box "pings" from missing Malaysian airliner MH370 was narrowing Thursday to a specific patch of remote ocean after two more signals were detected.

The head of the Australian-led search Angus Houston raised hopes Wednesday that wreckage will be found within days even as the black box batteries start to expire.

Houston's Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) announced Thursday the search area off western Australia was now 57,923 square kilometres (22,364 square miles) -- some 20,000 square kilometres down on Wednesday.

But Australian ship Ocean Shield is focused on an area of the Indian Ocean 2,280 kilometres (1,400 miles) northwest of Perth where it picked up two fresh signals Tuesday to match a pair of transmissions logged over the weekend as searchers try to pinpoint the exact crash zone.

No debris from the Boeing 777 which disappeared on March 8 has yet been found.

A large number of objects were spotted on the surface on Wednesday, JACC said, "but only a small number were able to be recovered.

"None of the recovered items were believed to be associated with MH370."

Officials had feared that the signals which were initially picked up might not be detected again, particularly since the batteries on the black box tracking beacons have a normal lifespan of about 30 days.

"Yesterday's signals will assist in better defining a reduced and much more manageable search area on the ocean floor," Houston told a press conference.

"I believe we are searching in the right area but we need to visually identify the aircraft before we can confirm with certainty that this is the final resting place of MH370."

Houston, however, again urged caution for the sake of the families of those aboard the flight which mysteriously vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, and said the search for more signals would go on.

"Hopefully with lots of transmissions we'll have a tight, small area and... in a matter of days we'll be able to find something on the bottom that might confirm that this is the last resting place of MH370," he said.

Australia confirmed Wednesday that the first signals were consistent with black box recorders.

"The analysis determines that a very stable distinct and clear signal was detected at 33.331 kHz and that it consistently pulsed at a 1.106 second interval," Houston said, explaining that the exact frequencies can vary according to time and conditions.

"They (experts) believe the signals to be consistent with the specification and description of a flight data recorder," he said.

No other ships will be allowed near the Ocean Shield, as its work must be done in an environment as free of noise as possible.

With the clock ticking on how long the black boxes could feasibly continue to transmit, Houston said it would not be long before a US-made autonomous underwater vehicle called a Bluefin 21 would be sent down to investigate.

"I don't think that time is very far away," he said.

Up to 10 military aircraft, four civil planes and 13 ships would take part in the search on Thursday, JACC said.

Fair visibility was predicted for the day with moderate southeasterly winds and isolated showers.