10 years later, new signal detection could unravel mystery of fate of flight MH370

By Aysu Bicer

LONDON (AA) - British researchers have detected a signal that may lead to the discovery of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished over the Indian Ocean a decade ago, according to British daily The Telegraph.

The aircraft, carrying 239 passengers and crew, is believed to have run out of fuel and crashed into the ocean after veering off course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014.

Despite extensive searches covering over 119,140 square kilometers (46,000 square miles), only 18 fragments of the plane have been found washed ashore.

Now researchers from Wales have reportedly picked up a six-second signal using underwater microphones, or hydrophones, that could potentially lead to the plane’s final resting place.

These hydrophones, originally designed to detect banned nuclear tests, picked up the signal around the time the plane is believed to have crashed.

The researchers based their study on the premise that a Boeing 777, such as MH370, would generate kinetic energy equivalent to a small earthquake if it crashed at a speed of 200 meters per second (656 feet per second).

Such an impact would be substantial enough to be recorded by hydrophones thousands of miles away.

The signal was detected at Cape Leeuwin in Western Australia, one of two hydrophone stations that are within tens of minutes’ signal travel time from the plane’s last known radar contact.