The Australian defence vessel, Ocean Shield has detected two signals that are consistent with those emitted by aircraft black boxes.
Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) head Angus Houston said the first pinger signal lasted for two hours 20 minutes, while the second lasted for thirteen minutes.
Houston said the two separate signal detections occured within the northern part of the defined search area, where the missing aircraft was believed to have entered the waters.
"Significantly, this would be consistent from transmission from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.
"This is very encouraging information which unfolded in the last 24 hours. This is he most promising lead and in the search so far it is probably the best information that we have so far," he told a press conference in Perth.
Houston said the sounds were heard at a depth of 4,500 meters.
He said it could take days before officials can confirm whether the signals did indeed come from the plane and he urged the media to treat the latest development "cautiously and responsibly".
"We havent found the aircraft yet and we need further information," he stressed.
On Friday, a Chinese patrol ship discovered a pulse signal with a frequency of 37.5 kHz which is consistent with the frequency used for black boxes, while looking for the lost Malaysia Airlines (MAS) aircraft MH370.
Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) head Angus Houston said the first pinger signal lasted for two hours 20 minutes, while the second lasted for thirteen minutes.
Houston said the two separate signal detections occured within the northern part of the defined search area, where the missing aircraft was believed to have entered the waters.
"Significantly, this would be consistent from transmission from both the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder.
"This is very encouraging information which unfolded in the last 24 hours. This is he most promising lead and in the search so far it is probably the best information that we have so far," he told a press conference in Perth.
Houston said the sounds were heard at a depth of 4,500 meters.
He said it could take days before officials can confirm whether the signals did indeed come from the plane and he urged the media to treat the latest development "cautiously and responsibly".
"We havent found the aircraft yet and we need further information," he stressed.
On Friday, a Chinese patrol ship discovered a pulse signal with a frequency of 37.5 kHz which is consistent with the frequency used for black boxes, while looking for the lost Malaysia Airlines (MAS) aircraft MH370.