'Dull oomph' might hold clue to MH370

An audio device recording underwater sounds might hold vital clues to the final moments of missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 which disappeared in March without a trace.

Researcher from Curtin University in WA believe they may have captured the sound of a blast as the plane impacted on the ocean's surface with an underwater listening device.

"One signal has been detected on several receivers that could be related to the crash," Alec Duncan with the university's Centre for Marine Science and Technology (CMST) told CNN.

The sound, described as a dull "oomph", was detected by underwater receivers, but the apparent location of the sound is in the central Indian Ocean — nearly 5000km away from the present search zone in southern Indian Ocean.

Read more: British sailor claims she saw passenger jet on fire.

Mr Duncan said CMST researchers have been examining the sound for weeks to determine whether it is the "impact of the aircraft on the water or the implosion of parts of the aircraft as it sank".

"But (the source of the noise) is just as likely to be a natural event," Mr Duncan said, such as an earthquake.

Mr Duncan said in the right conditions low frequency sounds can travel thousands of kilometres through the water at speeds of 1.5km a second.

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But he added that "at the moment (the sound) appears to be inconsistent with other data about the aircraft position," he said.

The research team will release further details today.

Source: CNN
Author: Nicholas McCallum, Approving editor: Matthew Henry