According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, a black box detector deployed by the MH370 search vessel Haixun 01 has picked up a pulse signal akin to those emitted by black box flight recorders.
In a statement released this morning, retired Air Chief Marshall and international search effort chief coordinator Angus Houston said that while the pulse signal could not yet be verified as belonging to the missing plane, the signal is consistent with black box beacons and the RAAF is considering deploying its assets to investigate further:
“A number of white objects were also sighted on the surface about 90 kilometres from the detection area. However, there is no confirmation at this stage that the signals and the objects are related to the missing aircraft.”
A spokesperson from the company that makes black boxes added that “there is very little in nature or in the background noise of the ocean that emits this frequency, so unless it is another vehicle or other beacon in the vicinity, which I really doubt in this part of the ocean, this is a positive sign.”
Tuesday will mark a month since MH370 vanished; black box recorders are equipped with a transmission beacon, the battery of which has a life expectancy of about thirty days.
via The ABC
Photo: AFP via Getty
