A 'ping' of hope for searchers

PERTH (AP):

A Chinese ship involved in the hunt for the missing Malaysian jetliner reported hearing a "pulse signal" yesterday in southern Indian Ocean waters with the same frequency emitted by the plane's data recorders, as Malaysia vowed not to give up the search for the jet.

The Australian government agency coordinating the search for the missing plane said that the electronic pulse signals reportedly detected by the Chinese ship are consistent with those of an aircraft black box.

No verification

But retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, the head of the search coordination agency, said they "cannot verify any connection" at this stage between the electronic signals and the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Military and civilian planes, ships with deep-sea searching equipment and a British nuclear submarine scoured a remote patch of the southern Indian Ocean off Australia's west coast, in an increasingly urgent hunt for debris and the black box recorders that hold vital information about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370's last hours.

After weeks of fruitless looking, officials face the daunting prospect that sound-emitting beacons in the flight and voice recorders will soon fall silent as their batteries die after sounding electronic pings for a month.