Chinese Ship Detects Pulse Signal While Searching for Missing Plane

What's This?

The Haixun 31 maritime patrol vessel, China's largest maritime patrol ship.

Image: Wong Maye-E/Associated Press

By Brian Ries2014-04-05 13:04:50 UTC

This could be it.

A Chinese ship searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has detected a pulse signal on the same frequency used by black boxes, according to the Chinese Xinhua News Agency.

The Haixun-01 heard the ping with a frequency of 37.5kHz in the southern Indian Ocean, significant because it's not a sound of nature or animals in the ocean — it's man made.

The signal was reportedly picked up at 25 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east latitude, and comes as a Chinese plane reported spotting a number of white objects floating in the search area.

Australian Defense Minister David Johnston warns that even if this turns out to be Flight 370's black box — and it's not clear if it is — it could take weeks to find its location on the sea bed. "There's a huge chance of false positives here," he said.

The has been missing since March 8 when it vanished from the skies as it entered Vietnamese airspace — and hasn't been heard from since. There were 239 people on board, and their families want answers.

The search to find the plane's black box is running out of time. Batteries in the flight recorders only last 30 days, meaning the black box could go silent as soon as Monday. If that happens, we might never know what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

It would forever be one of modern aviations biggest mysteries.

This story is breaking. We'll continue updating it as new details become available...

Topics: US & World, World