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       Searchers Hear Signals Consistent With Missing Plane's Black Boxes

   by VOA News

   Australian officials said a navy ship has detected new signals
   "consistent" with the black box data recorders of the missing Malaysia
   Airlines passenger jet.
   Search chief Angus Houston told reporters Monday in Perth the
   development during the past day is the "most promising lead" so far in
   the search for the Boeing 777 in the Indian Ocean off the coast of
   Australia.
   He emphasized that further confirmation is needed, which could take
   days, but he described the information picked up by the U.S. Navy ping
   detector as "very encouraging."
   Houston said the detector towed by the Australian ship Ocean Shield had
   contact that lasted two hours and 20 minutes, followed by another
   contact of 13 minutes. He said this would be "consistent with
   transmissions from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice
   recorder."
   Once a general position of the latest signals is confirmed, he said, an
   underwater autonomous vehicle can be sent to investigate.
   On Sunday, officials said three distinct but fleeting sounds were heard
   from the depths of the Indian Ocean.
   That followed sounds heard by a Chinese ship on both Friday and
   Saturday in a different section of the search area.
   The plane disappeared early on March 8 with 239 people aboard on a
   flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
   The plane vanished without any distress calls, and authorities have
   refused to rule out any possibilities, including hijacking, sabotage or
   a mechanical malfunction.
   Malaysian officials say they are continuing to investigate whether any
   deliberate action by the pilots or crew could have sent the plane down.
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/searchers-hear-signals-consistent-with-missing-planes-black-boxes/1887679.html