A Chinese ship that was searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean has picked up a pulse signal, says Chinese media.
The signal frequency picked up has been described as something that has 37.5kHz per second - the same as those emitted by the flight recorders.
"A black box detector deployed by the Haixun 01 picked up the signal at around 25 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east longitude. It is yet to be established whether it is related to the missing jet," China's Xinhua news Agency said.
Only hours later, the Chinese state-run news agecy said that a Chinese aircraft spotted floating objects while in search for the missing Malaysian plane. The news outlet, however, did not confirm if the aircraft spotted the floating object at or around the same location where the vessel detected the pulse signal. The agency only said that the floating objects were found some 2,700km off the coast of Perth Australia and were detected at 9:55am local time.
The news comes after dozens of ships and planes have joined the search for the missing plane that disappeared from the civilian radar in the wee hours of 8 March en route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.
The flight is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, although no debris have been found in the massive mission involving 26 countries.
Time Running Out
The search and rescue teams are left with just one day to find out the crucial 'black box' of the missing Malaysia Airlines plane MH370, so that world can know what really happened to the ill-fated plane.
With only about 30 days of battery life, the black box - which emits pings or sound pulses to reveal the plane's location - will fall silent on 7 April or thereabouts. And if that happens, all hope of finding anything related to the ill-fated aircraft will be lost. Additionally, searchers will thereby be forced to undergo an exhaustive search of the large and unmapped ocean floor; a process that will likely take years, possibly decades.
Even as the mystery surrounding the plane continues to baffle the aviation industry, the search area was dramatically shifted further north, based on a new data suggesting the plane did not travel as far as previously thought.
Hope Lost
Last week, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott echoed the words of Malaysian Government's announcement that all hopes are lost for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, as he visited RAAF base in Pearce, north of Perth on Monday.
Declaring that all evidence points to the plane going down in the southern Indian Ocean, Abbot defended the Malaysian Prime Minister's announcement via bold text message and a chilling late night announcement last week that the plane has beyond reasonable doubt crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean.
Objects
Various floating objects have been seen in the southern Indian Ocean, but none of them were found to be linked to the missing plane. In a latest search, Chinese aircraft Ilyushin Il-76, spotted three suspicious objects in the southern Indian Ocean, that could potentially be part of the wreckage from the long-missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.
All Dead
Malaysian authorities confirmed on 24 March that the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 has been lost and all 239 passengers and crew members onboard are assumed dead - an announcement that invited a spate of criticism from family members of the missing passengers.
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said in a news conference, citing various data and satellite analysis from a British company, that MH370's journey ended in the southern Indian Ocean. He said that the last known position of the missing plane was in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Razak expressed deep sadness and regret while informing the news to the family members.
