missing jetliner Chinese ship hears ‘signal’

Associated Press

PERTH, Australia

Officials today were trying to confirm whether a “pulse signal” reportedly picked up by a Chinese ship in the Indian Ocean came from the missing Malaysian jetliner.

The Australian agency coordinating the search for the missing plane said that the electronic pulse signals reportedly detected by the Chinese ship are consistent with those of an aircraft black box.

But the agency’s head, retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said they “cannot verify any connection” at this stage between the signals and Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which disappeared March 8 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

China’s official Xinhua News Agency reported late Saturday that a Chinese ship that is part of the search effort detected a “pulse signal” at 37.5 kilohertz (cycles per second) — the same frequency emitted by flight-data recorders — in southern Indian Ocean waters. Xinhua, however, said it had not yet been determined whether the signal was related to the missing plane, citing the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center.

Malaysia’s civil aviation chief, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, confirmed the frequency emitted by Flight 370’s black boxes were 37.5 kilohertz.

Houston said his Joint Agency Coordination Centre had asked China for “any further information that may be relevant.” He said the Australian air force was considering deploying more aircraft to the area where the Chinese ship reportedly detected the sounds.

“I have been advised that a series of sounds have been detected by a Chinese ship in the search area. The characteristics reported are consistent with the aircraft black box,” Houston said. The agency also had received reports of white objects sighted on the ocean surface about 56 miles from where the electronic signals were detected.

“However, there is no confirmation at this stage that the signals and the objects are related to the missing aircraft,” Houston said.

The agency said up to 12 military and civilian planes and 13 ships would take part in the search today, which would focus on three areas totaling about 83,400 square miles. The areas are about 1,200 miles northwest of the Australian city of Perth.