BBC Online :
Australian co-ordinators in the search for the missing Malaysian plane say a Chinese ship has detected a pulse signal for a second time, within hours of it being heard earlier on Saturday.
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston called the discovery in the southern Indian Ocean an “important and encouraging lead”.
He warned that the data were still unverified. British naval ship HMS Echo is sailing to the area to investigate further. It is expected to arrive in the early hours of Monday.
Given that not a single piece of debris from the missing plane has been found, it would be remarkable if the Chinese ship had managed to stumble across signals from the black box flight recorder without any real idea of where the plane crashed.
Some will ask whether the Chinese know more than they are letting on. But at this stage Australian officials are urging caution. They seem encouraged by the fact that signals were apparently picked up on two consecutive days just a few kilometres apart.
But they are stressing there could be many such leads in the coming days that come to nothing.
Australian aircraft were also on their way, Air Chief Marshal Houston told reporters. Australian naval vessel Ocean Shield would be heading to the latest search area once it had investigated a third acoustic detection elsewhere.
Both HMS Echo and ADV Ocean Shield have technology able to detect underwater signals emitted by data recorders.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board. Investigators believe it crashed in the Indian Ocean although no confirmed debris has been found. The battery-powered signal from the “black box” recorders fades after 30 days.
After confirming details of the first pulse detected on Saturday which had “characteristics consistent with” an aircraft’s flight recorder, Air Chief Marshal Houston told a news briefing at Pearce Air Base near Perth of a second signal.
“[Saturday] afternoon Perth time, there was another acoustic detection less than 2 km (1.2 miles) from the original.”
The second signal lasted about 90 seconds, he said.
The search co-ordinator insisted the latest developments should be treated as unverified “until such time as we can provide an unequivocal determination”.
“We are working in a very big ocean and within a very large search area, and so far since the aircraft went missing we have had very few leads which allow us to narrow the search area,” he said.
“I assure you that we will follow up and exhaust every credible lead that we receive.” A dozen military aircraft and 13 ships are already searching three areas about 2,000 km (1,240 miles) north-west of the Australian city of Perth. They will cover some 216,000 sq km on Sunday.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott earlier said he was “hopeful but by no means certain” that the signal detected on Saturday was linked to missing flight MH370.
