Malaysia Airline Flight MH370: Chinese Search Ship Picks Up Radio Signals In Indian Ocean Which May Belong To The Missing Plane

A Chinese vessel searching for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 has detected a pulse signal in the Indian Ocean, Xinhua News Agency reportedly said Saturday.

Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01, one of the Chinese patrol ships looking for the plane, detected a pulse signal of 37.5 kHz per second in the southern Indian Ocean. A black-box detector deployed by the Chinese ship picked up the signal at around 25 degrees south latitude and 101 degrees east longitude.

The authorities have yet to confirm whether the pulse belonged to Flight MH370, which has been missing since March 8 along with all 239 passengers on board.

Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia's defense minister and acting transport minister, reportedly told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday that the country will not stop looking for MH370.

"I can only speak for Malaysia, and Malaysia will not stop looking for MH370," Hishammuddin said.

Search operations are trying to find some evidence of wreckage, focusing on finding the black box of the plane, which would reveal the last minutes of the plane. Close to 13 military and civilian planes and nine other ships took part in the search Saturday, Associated Press, reported.

Since the black box’s beacons have only a month’s worth of battery power, the race to find the black box before it shuts down has intensified.

The Australian Navy's Ocean Shield and the British HMS Echo, which have more advanced equipment that can detect the recorders' pings, returned to the area, but investigators are doubtful this to be the spot where the plane went down.

The overall search area is a 217,000-square-kilometer (84,000-square-mile) zone in the southern Indian Ocean, about 1,700 kilometers (1,100 miles) northwest of the western Australian city of Perth, according to AP.