Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 has in the course of its search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 detected a pulse signal in the southern Indian Ocean, Xinhua reports.
The signal was picked up today by a "black-box detector" at 25°S latitude and 101°E longitude, and has a frequency of 37.5kHz per second, says the Chinese state news agency. "It is yet to be established whether it is related to the missing jet," adds Xinhua.
Cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders are fitted with acoustic 37.5kHz underwater locator beacons, the battery life of which can run out after about 30 days.
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 went missing on 8 March.
Xinhua is also reporting that the crew of a Chinese air force aircraft today spotted "a number of white floating objects" in the search area, some 2,700km from the Australian city of Perth.
Source: Cirium Dashboard