Chinese ship finds ‘pulse signal’

Most intensive hunt yet underway in the southern Indian Ocean for missing flight MH370. Paul Chapman reports.

Tireless ... HMAS Toowoomba is one of eleven ships scouring a 217,000-sq-km patch of ocean northwest of Perth near where investigators believe MH370 went down on March 8. Picture: Chris Beerens Source: AFP

THERE are reports that a Chinese patrol ship has discovered a "pulse signal" in the southern Indian Ocean while searching for debris from missing flight MH370.

According to China's Xinhua News Agency, the ship, Haixum 01, detected a signal with a frequency of 37.5 kilohertz per second. It was reported the sounds were heard for about 90 seconds.

The reported discovery comes as the batteries powering the black box from the plane are expected to expire as early as Monday.

The president of pinger manufacturer Dukane Seacom has confirmed that this is the "standard beacon frequency" of both black boxes on MH370 — the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder.

Searching for signals ... a towed pinger locator (TPL-25) on the deck of Australian Defence Vessel Ocean Shield. Source: Supplied

Commercial jets are equipped with two black boxes — the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Flight Data Recorder — that transmit acoustic signals on a beacon frequency of 37.5 kHz.

These sounds, or pulses, cannot be heard with human ears. Australia's Ocean Shield is towing a pinger locator listening for sounds at this frequency, and the British ship HMS Echo had a hull-mounted device capable of detecting the same pulses.

Haixun 01 picked up the signal at about 25 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east longitude, the official Xinhua news agency said. The location appears to be far to the west of the current search location

Shanghai-based Xinmin Evening News cited its reporter on board the patrol ship as reporting that the ship's crew had "basically confirmed" that the signal was from the missing Boeing 777-200.

MH370? ... A Chinese vessel has picked up a pulse signal at 25 degrees South, 101 degrees East. Source: Supplied

However, experts have cautioned that the same signal could come from "a variety of things".

"It could be a false signal," oceanographer Simon Boxall told CNN. "We've had a lot of red herrings, hyperbole on this whole search."

The media office of the Joint Agency Coordination Centre said the could not say anything about the signal or whether it had come from MH370.

"We are unable to verify any such information at this point in time," the office said.

According to the Royal Australian Navy's mission commander on the Ocean Shield, James Lybrand, it would be expected that if a boat passed over the black box, the sound would quickly fade as the ship moved away.

It would then be required to turn back over the search area and "localize" the frequency emissions, which could take hours.

Commander Lybrand said yesterday there was "negligible" chance any pings at 37.5kHz was from biological sources, such as whales, and would almost certainly be from one of the two black boxes.

"We can't verify this information at this point in time," said a spokesman for Joint Australian Coordination Centre.

Scouring ... Royal Australian Air Force E-7A Wedgetail takes off from Perth Airport on route to conduct search operations for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in southern Indian Ocean. Picture: Rob Griffith Source: AP

It has been nearly a month since Malaysia Airlines flight 370 disappeared en route to Beijing on March 8 with 239 people on board.

Up to 10 military planes, three civilian jets and 11 ships are scouring a 217,000-sq-km patch of ocean northwest of Perth near where investigators believe the plane went down on March 8.

Australian Defence Minister David Johnston was asked about the matter during a live cross on ABC24 for the WA Senate election.

"I know nothing. I don't want to confirm anything because I think there has been a lot of this sort of false positives," Senator Johnston said.

"Let's wait until we have an official release.

"But look, I'm excited, I'm optimistic, but let me tell you it's a very, very big ocean out there and up until this time, we've had a lot of disappointment."

Senator Johnston said he had not had a chance to "get to the bottom of this" as he had been busy with the election, but stressed there had been "a huge probability of false positives" in relation to the missing Malaysian Airlines flight.

"Let's just stay calm," he said.

He said he would await information from the Australian Maritime Safety Authority.

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