April 7, 2014 -- Updated 1031 GMT (1831 HKT)
After weeks of searching, investigators now have their "most promising" lead yet. FULL STORY
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REASONS TO BELIEVE
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FALSE POSITIVE?
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RELATIVES CAUTIOUS
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Q&A
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TIMELINE
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'SO FEW FACTS'
Malaysia Flight 370: New signal sounds 'just like' one from a plane's beacon
April 7, 2014 -- Updated 1203 GMT (2003 HKT)
'Cautiously hopeful' over new leads
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Official: "We have a promising lead, but we have yet to get confirming evidence"
- Both Australian and Chinese ships picked up signals in the Indian Ocean
- It could still take days to confirm the origin of the signals, he says
- The plane flew around Indonesian airspace, a Malaysian source says
A pinger locator in the
Indian Ocean has detected signals consistent with those sent by a flight
data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder, said the head of the
Australian agency coordinating search operations.
The signals were picked
up Sunday by the Ocean Shield, an Australian navy ship that's towing a
sophisticated U.S. pinger locator through an area about 1,750 kilometers
(1,100 miles) northwest of Perth. The first detection lasted for more
than two hours; a second lasted for about 13 minutes.
The sounds were heard in a
part of the ocean that's about 4,500 meters (about 14,800 feet) deep,
retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said Monday.
'Cautiously hopeful' over new leads
CMDR.: Consistent with both black boxes
Map in search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.
Photos: The search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370
"We've got a visual
indication on a screen, and we've also got an audible signal. And the
audible signal sounds to me just like an emergency locator beacon," he
said.
"We are encouraged that we are very close to where we need to be."
But it could take days
before officials can confirm whether the signals came from the plane,
which fell off radar on March 8 with 239 people on board.
"In very deep oceanic
water, nothing happens fast," Houston said. "I would ask all of you to
treat this information cautiously and responsibly. ... We haven't found
the aircraft yet."
"We have a promising lead, but we have yet to get confirming evidence."
At least one
investigator has described the search not as finding a needle in a
haystack, but rather trying to find the haystack.
"It's very exciting,
very exciting," forensic audio expert Paul Ginsberg said Monday. "I
think we have finally found the haystack."
And Malaysian
authorities are hopeful there will be a positive development in the next
few days, if not hours, acting Transportation Minister Hishammuddin
Hussein told reporters Monday.
But some friends and relatives of passengers said they're not putting too much stock in Monday's news.
"Until they physically
locate the bulk of the plane with the black box intact and passenger
bodies, I won't believe it," said Sarah Bajc, the partner of American
passenger Philip Wood.
Teams are also still
investigating pings detected Friday and Saturday by a Chinese ship about
600 kilometers (375 miles) southwest of the area that the Ocean Shield
is searching.
But time could be
running out in tracing the sounds. In a few hours or days, the pingers
aboard the plane could stop transmitting for good.
The batteries inside the
beacons, which are designed to start sending signals when a plane
crashes into water, last about 30 days after the devices are activated.
Monday marks the 31st day of the search.
New flight details
Did Flight 370 purposely avoid radar?
Another 'acoustic event' detected
Source: MH370 skirted Indonesia radar
Source: MH370 skirted Indonesia radar
While searchers may be getting closer to the plane, a fresh mystery has emerged about what happened during the flight.
The jet skirted
Indonesian airspace as it went off the grid and veered off course, a
senior Malaysian government source told CNN on Sunday.
After reviewing radar
track data from neighboring countries, officials concluded that the
plane curved north of Indonesia before turning south toward the southern
Indian Ocean, the Malaysian source said.
Whoever was flying the plane could have been trying to avoid radar detection, the source said.
But why?
Like most details in the
case that's baffled investigators ever since the plane dropped off
Malaysian military radar, it depends on whom you ask.
CNN law enforcement
analyst Tom Fuentes cautioned against assuming a nefarious reason for
steering the plane around Indonesia's airspace.
"I think the plane's
being intentionally flown there, but I think it's still a mystery as to
why. ... I think they would probably guess they're not avoiding
anybody's radar, because there's a lot of radar in the area," he said.
"I think they're avoiding getting shot down or colliding with another
airplane."
CNN aviation analyst Miles O'Brien said the new route includes designated waypoints that pilots and air traffic controllers use.
"This particular route
that is laid out happens to coincide with some of these named
intersections," he said. "So what it shows is an experienced pilot
somewhere in the mix on this."
Investigators haven't said who they think might have flown the plane off course or why.
But Hishammuddin,
Malaysia's acting transportation minister, said Monday that Indonesian
military authorities told the Malaysian defense force that they had "no
sighting" of the plane the night it disappeared.
The possibility that the
plane was hijacked by someone who knew how to fly a commercial jet is
still on the table. Authorities have also been investigating the plane's
captain and co-pilot. And they haven't ruled out mechanical problems as
a possible cause of the plane's diversion.
Official: Search teams detect 2nd pulse
China: Pulse signals lasted over a minute
China: Ship detects pulse signal
So far, no physical
evidence of the plane's eventual whereabouts has been found, leaving
many relatives of those on board trapped in uncertainty.
Zeroing in
The Ocean Shield, whose
high-tech pinger locator was borrowed from the U.S. Navy, will continue
to pursue the sound it heard. If that lead turns cold, it will move to
another detection area, a journey that will take at least a day,
officials said.
The HMS Echo, a British
navy ship equipped with advanced detection gear, sailed into the area of
the southern Indian Ocean on Monday morning (Sunday afternoon ET) where
a Chinese crew had detected two audio signals.
The arrival of the Echo
will be critical to the search for the missing Boeing 777. It has
state-of-the-art sonar and is capable of mapping the ocean floor.
It should be able to
help determine more confidently whether audio signals picked up Friday
and Saturday by the Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 came from the plane.
The Chinese said the electronic pulses -- detected only 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) apart -- were consistent with those emitted by pingers on an aircraft's "black boxes."
Houston, the head of the
Australian agency coordinating the search, said sounds travel long
distances underwater, making it difficult to find their sources. If
detectors were near a pinger, they would pick up the signal for a more
sustained period.
The signals detected by
the Chinese weren't as sustained as those picked up by the Ocean Shield,
and the Chinese vessel's detection gear isn't thought to be as advanced
as the U.S. pinger locator. But officials say they can't discount
anything at this point.
Houston said the pulses
detected by the Chinese ship are particularly notable because they
occurred in an area that fits with the latest expert calculation of
roughly where the plane likely entered the water.
Despite the new hints that the plane may be in the ocean, some relatives of passengers are still hoping for the best.
"If the plane is there,
it's there. We can't change it," the husband of one passenger said. "But
I am still hoping for a miracle to happen."
CNN's Judy Kwon, Ed Payne and Mitra Mobasherat and journalist Ivy Sam also contributed to this report.
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