MH370: Scientists Attack Australian PM Tony Abbott for 'Playing Politics' Over Ping Reports

MH370: Scientists Attack Australian PM Tony Abbott for 'Playing Politics' Over Ping Reports

Lydia Smith

The Australian prime minister has been criticised for prematurely stating the signals detected were from MH370Reuters

Underwater scientists have accused Australian prime minister Tony
Abbott of playing politics by prematurely announcing that "ping" signals
came from the missing Malaysian plane's black boxes.


Speaking anonymously, the acoustic experts told News.com.au said the
four signals picked up by US technology were not from flight MH370's
flight data recorders, but were likely from a different, man-made
source.


The scientists also criticised the Joint Agency Coordination Centre,
which is leading the search, for not completing a critical and detailed
analysis of the signals before Mr Abbott went public in China on 11
April.


According to the group, the signals were in the wrong frequency and
detected too far apart to be from the aircraft. The 33.3 kilohertz
frequency of the signals transmitted differed from the 37.5 kilohertz
frequency generated by underwater acoustic beacons. The signals were
also detected four days and around 30km apart.


"As soon as I saw the frequency and the distance between the pings I
knew it couldn't be the aircraft pinger," one scientist told News Corp
Australia.


Earlier in the search, a Royal Australian Air Force jet detected
another mystery signal, which revealed other signals were being
transmitted from the search area.


"It is clear there were other man made signals out there," one of the scientists added.


In response to questions from News Corp Australia, the JACC said the
signals were believed to be consistent with MH370's flight data
recorder.


The JACC has not yet released recordings of the signals for
independent analysis and has kept the exact location and depth of the
signals under wraps.


Angus Houston, who is co-ordinating the search, said the signals were
still being analysed. "The data and technique used by Inmarsat has been
independently peer reviewed by a number of organisations outside of
Inmarsat, in both the UK and USA," he said.


The scientists said their conclusion is supported by the lack of
success in the underwater search being conducted by the submerged US
drone Bluefin-21.


The autonomous mini-submarine, which is currently scouring the sea
bed for debris, has resumed its search in the remote area of the
southern Indian Ocean, where several signal transmissions were detected.


The equipment is currently in its last week and will return to Perth
at the weekend, where it will be replaced by a commercial deep water
search vehicle.


"The autonomous underwater vehicle Bluefin-21 was deployed from the
vessel around 2:00 am this morning. It remains underwater on its search
mission," the JACC said.