Missing Plane: Three Acoustic Signals Detected

Chinese and Australian ships searching for missing flight MH370 have picked up separate acoustic signals in different parts of the southern Indian Ocean and are trying to verify if one could be from the plane's black box recorders.

Retired Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, head of the international search, earlier said Chinese patrol vessel Haixun 01 picked up two "acoustic events" some 1,000 miles (1,600km) northwest of Perth.

The first was a faint signal. The second was picked up around 1.2 miles (2km) away and lasted for 90 seconds, he said.

They had a "ping" of 37.5kHz frequency - the same emitted by black box flight recorders.

The location where the signal was detected

Australia's ADV Ocean Shield, which is carrying sophisticated equipment designed to pick up signals, has reported a separate "acoustic event" some 345 miles (555km) away.

However, marine salvage expert Captain John Noble has told Sky News this is "almost certain" to not be linked to the Chinese detection.

Time is running out to locate the black box, which is likely to hold the key to the mystery of the Malaysia Airlines plane, which left Malaysia for China on March 8.

Its battery life is 30 days, although Mr Houston said the black box can continue transmitting for "several days beyond that".

More planes and ships have been sent to the area, including the British vessel HMS Echo, to try and verify the potential breakthrough.

A Chinese air force plane has also spotted a number of white floating objects in the area, said Chinese state news agency Xinhua.

Mr Houston stressed investigators are still a "long way" from concluding the signals are from the Boeing 777, which was carrying 239 people.

He said they are "an important and encouraging lead" and show "some promise and require a full investigation".

An Australian Air Force Orion plane takes off in the hunt for MH370

Mr Houston added there has been a correction to satellite data that is being used to calculate the plane's likely flight path. Starting on Monday, the southern part of the current search zone will be a higher priority than the northern section.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott described the hunt as "the most difficult search in human history" as he cautioned against "coming to hard and fast conclusions too soon".

Anish Patel, president of Dukane Seacom, the company that made the black box locator, told Reuters: "The 37.5kHz is the specific frequency that these locator pingers operate on.

"It's a very unique frequency, typically not found in background ocean noise," such as whales or other marine mammals, he added.

People take part in a special prayer for passengers

A dozen planes and 13 ships are scouring three areas about 1,240 miles (2,000 km) northwest of Perth.

Malaysia said on Saturday it has launched a formal investigation into the plane's disappearance that will include experts from Britain, Australia, the US, China and France.

In the capital, Kuala Lumpur, more than 2,000 people, including family members of the 227 passengers, held an emotional mass prayer on Sunday.

"This is not a prayer for the dead because we have not found bodies," said Liow Tiong Lai, president of the governing coalition party that organised the two-hour event.

The emotional ceremony comes almost a month after the plane disappeared

"This is a prayer for blessings and that the plane will be found."

More than a dozen Chinese relatives have signed a petition calling on the Malaysian authorities to offer a reward for the first team to find the jet, which was carrying more than 150 passengers from China.

They also want the team that found the Air France plane that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 to assist with the hunt for flight MH370.

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