MH370: No submersibles will be deployed until more underwater signals detected

The search and and rescue team in Perth, will not deploy submersibles onto the seabed unless another transmission is received.

Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) head Angus Houston said this is because another transmission will give the team a better idea of what is down there.

"The issue is if we can get more transmissions, we can get a better fix on the ocean floor, which will enable a much more narrowly focused visual search for the wreckage.

"If we go down there now and do the visual search, it will take many, many days because it is a very slow, very painstaking work to scour the ocean floor..and of course the depths are very deep and it is very challenging work," he told a press conference in Perth today.

Houston added that there had been no further contacts with any transmissions, since yesterday.

"There had been no further contacts with any transmission and we need to continue that for several days to the point which there is absolutely no doubt that the pinger batteries will have expired," he said.

On Monday, the Australian defence vessel, Ocean Shield detected two signals that are consistent with those emitted by aircraft black boxes.

Houston had said the first pinger signal lasted for two hours 20 minutes, while the second lasted for thirteen minutes.

Separately, a Chinese search vessel, the Haixun 01, had twice picked up a signal — on Friday and Saturday — about 300 nautical miles away from where Ocean Shield had been deployed.