Live: China redetects signal for 90 seconds, 'encouraging lead' in Malaysia Airlines jet hunt
by Supriya Jha9:50 am: Pulse signal detection "an encouraging lead"
JACC chief Angus Houston said that the Chinese ship's detection of the "äcoustic" noise (which is said to be consistent with the frequency of an aircraft black box) is an "important an encouraging lead".
Giving more details about the signals, he said that China had again detected the pulse for 90 seconds within 24 hours of first picking up a signal in the search area.
9:30 am: JACC holding press conference
The Joint agency coordinating the search operations is holding a presser to brief the reporters about the latest ping detected by a Chinese ship.
9:05 am JACC yet to confirm if detected pulse signal came from MH370
It has not yet been confirmed if the pulse signal detected by a Chinese ship was emanated by the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, said the Australian Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC).
According to Barnama news agency, JACC chief Angus Houston said that the pulse signal detected by Chinese ship Haixun 01 "could not be verified at this point of time".
Though he said that the signal detected of frequency 37.5 Hz was in consistence with an aircraft black box, but it was not yet clear if it was linked to Malaysian jet.
8:30 am: Search resumes after new clue
The search for the plane continued on Sunday with 10 military planes, two civil jets and 13 ships involved in the hunt for flight MH370, according to the Joint Agency Coordination Center.
With just a day left before the plane's black box batteries are expected to expire, the investigators are racing against time to locate the flight data recorders. Fortunately the weather is expected to be supportive and visibility is said to be good for today's search operations.
Today's search area has been adjusted about 300 km farther from Perth compared to yesterday. The ships and planes will today scour an area spanning approximately 216,000 square km, about 2,000 km northwest of Perth.
As the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet entered its most crucial phase, when there are just 48 hours left for the black box signals to start fading; Chinese ship Haixun 01 has detected what might be coming from MH370.
The Chinese ship claims to have detected a pulse signal with a frequency of 37.5kHz per second in southern Indian Ocean waters around 25 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east longitude, a Xinhua report said
Australian ships and planes are being sent to an area in the southern Indian Ocean where electronic pulse signals consistent with those of the black box onboard missing plane MH370 have been detected.
China's Xinhua News Agency last night reported that a black box detector, deployed by the ship Haixun 01, had picked up a signal at 37.5 kilohertz (cycles per second), the same frequency emitted by flight data recorders.
In a press conference today, Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said that there is still no confirmation that the 'pings' came from the missing plane and that investigations are continuing.
However, he also revealed that crew onboard Haixun 01 had redetected the signal for 90 seconds within 2 kilometres of the initial signal.
"It's an important and encouaging lead but one which I urge you to continue to treat carefully," said Mr Houston.
He says over the next few days and weeks there may be many reports of 'pings' but they are to be treated with caution.
Mr Houston also revealed that due to new information about the state of the satellite tracking the Malaysian Airlines plane when it went missing, the southern search area of the Indian Ocean is being given priority over the northern.
"The area of highest probability, we think, is in the southern area of the Indian Ocean where the Haixun is operating," said Mr Houston.
In the past hour, the ship Ocean Shield has detected a separate "possible acoustic detection." Houston says no other information is known at this moment.