MH370: Flight believed to have skirted Indonesian airspace

The plane is believed to have skirted the Indonesian airspace to avoid radar detection, CNN reported.

This conclusion was drawn after looking at radar data from neighbouring countries, the official was quoted.

The report also said that investigations are on the way to determine if the underwater sounds detected in the southern Indian Ocean came from a flight recorder on the missing plane.

The search teams are racing against time to determine this as the batteries powering the devices are expected to expire in a few more days.

Earlier, Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 was reported to have detected two signals within a space of 36 hours and between two kilometers apart.

Australian agency coordinating search operations (JACC) head Angus Houston told a press conference that the electronic pulses were consistent with those emitted by the pingers on an aircraft's flight data and voice recorders.

However, they have not been confirmed as coming from the Malaysian Airlines (MAS) MH370.

On March 19, Indonesia Defence Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro was quoted as saying that the republic’s military radar did not detect any signs that the MH370 might have flown over its airspace.

He had said that the defence radar system in Sabang, Acheh is very powerful and given its sensitive nature, its detection accuracy was undisputable.

He had stressed that the MH370 was not in the Indonesia’s military radar area.