Ships race towards site where electronic pulses detected in MH370 search

In a major development in the search for MH370, ships are heading towards signals that were detected by Australian ship involved in the search for the missing Malaysian jet.

Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating search operations, confirmed that the Ocean Shield has detected more signals consistent with aircraft black boxes.

The search coordinator said more signals have been detected by a towed pinger locator deployed by the Australian vessel Ocean Shield.

Air Chief Marshal Houston said the signals are 'consistent with those emitted by aircraft black boxes.'

He added that the detections were being taken 'very seriously' as time ticked down on the battery life of the black box's tracking beacons.

According to news.com.au, Houston said the position of the signals would need to be fixed before an autonomous underwater vehicle 'Blue Fin 21' could be deployed to locate wreckage.

British navy ship HMS Echo has entered the zone where Chinese patrol vessel Haixun 01 picked up two underwater signals only two kilometres apart, the report said.

Both the Ocean Shield and HMS Echo have deep-sea listening equipment.