2:14pm: Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, who heads the Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC), gives a briefing on ongoing search operations. Here are some of the highlights:
- Over the last 24 hours, the towed pinger locator deployed by Australian Defence Vessel (ADV) Ocean Shield detected signals consistent with those emitted by aircraft black boxes.
- It was detected in the northen part of the defined search area. The first detection was held for 2 hours 20 minutes before contact was lost when the ship did a turnaround to re-acquire the signal.
- Upon the return leg, Ocean Shield then held the detection for 13 minutes, in which time it caught two distinct pinger returns, consistent with transmission from flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder.
- He says this is the most promising lead and “best in we have had” to date but warns that it will take some days before information is available to enable them to verify if indeed the signal is from MH370.
- Ocean Shield will remain in the area until contact is re-established, after which Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (AUV) such as the Bluefin-21 on board the vessel can be deployed.
- He says the signals were detected in an area with a dept of 4,500metres, which is the limit of capabilities of the AUV.
- He stresses that sighting of the wreckage must first be found for an "unequivocal determination" to be made.
They are considering the option of employing an remotely operated underwater vehicle, as while capable of carrying one, the Ocean Shield does not currently have one on board.
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