Black box signals' raise hope of finding MH370 in days – Malaysian minister
Hishammuddin Hussein cautiously hopeful of positive developments in hunt for plane 'in next few days, if not hours'
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Malaysian transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein speaks to reporters in Kuala Lumpur. Photograph: Ahmad Yusni/EPA
The hunt for the missing flight MH370 could see positive developments "in the next few days, if not hours", Malaysia's transport minister has said after an Australian vessel twice detected signals consistent with transmissions from the beacons on a black box.
Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters in Kuala Lumpur he was "cautiously hopeful" of good news in the international search for MH370, now in its 31st day. But he stressed it was not yet possible to confirm a link to the missing plane.
The aircraft's flight data and cockpit voice recorders are certified to emit signals for just 30 days after a crash, although experts say they might continue to do so for up to two weeks more.
Earlier, the Australian official overseeing co-ordination of the search in the southern Indian ocean described the latest information from the Ocean Shield as "very encouraging".
Angus Houston, head of the joint agency co-ordination centre, said the naval vessel had twice detected a signal in the northern part of the search area – first for two hours and 20 minutes, and then for 13 minutes. The vessel is continuing to monitor the area to relocate the signal.
"I can report some very encouraging information which has unfolded over the last 24 hours. The towed pinger locator deployed from the Australian vessel Ocean Shield has detected signals," he said.
"Significantly, this would be consistent with transmissions from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder."
The Beijing-bound flight vanished early on 8 March, shortly after taking off from Malaysia, with 227 passengers and 12 crew. Investigators believe it was diverted from its course deliberately and flew on for hours.
Houston gave credit to the work of the investigators in Kuala Lumpur in establishing the search area. They have analysed the plane's "handshakes" with satellites, radar evidence of parts of its early course and other technical information such as how long it would take the Boeing 777 to burn fuel at various speeds.
He added it would take days and "a lot of difficult, painstaking work" to confirm the crash site had been found, then attempting to relocate the signal and using it to narrow the search area, and then using equipment to seek wreckage.
China's state news agency Xinhua announced this weekend that a Chinese patrol ship, the Haixun 01, detected a signal that could be from one of the black boxes of the missing plane, about 300 nautical miles from the location of Ocean Shield.
The report raised hopes because it said the frequency of the signal was 37.5kHz, which the beacon's manufacturer said would be consistent with its product. Oceanographers said this frequency would be unlikely to arise naturally.
But the Chinese vessel Haixun 1 detected it for just over a minute. But footage later released showed the crew using a handheld sonar device called a hydrophone, which is far less sophisticated than the towed pinger locator used by Ocean Shield and, said experts, would be highly unlikely to detect the beacons.
Houston said it was unlikely the Chinese and Australian crews had detected the same source, though he added: "In deep water, funny things happen with acoustic signals."
British ship HMS Echo has been searching the area highlighted by Haixun 1 with a towed pinger locator.
Nine military planes, three civilian planes and 14 ships assisted in the search operation on Monday, within an area of around 234,000sq km.
Malaysian officials announced two weeks ago that they believed the plane was lost in the Indian Ocean, with Malaysian Airlines adding that they believed all lives had been lost.
But some relatives of those on board say they cannot accept that conclusion until wreckage is found.
The Malaysian transport minister told reporters: "I have always said to families that miracles do happen."
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