Malaysia Flight 370: Searchers race to try to trace sounds detected in ocean

Time is against them, as the batteries powering the missing plane's devices that send out pings are expected to expire in the coming days, CNN reports. The desperate efforts to trace the signals came as new details emerged about the missing plane's likely path on the night it vanished. A senior Malaysian government source told CNN that Flight 370 flew around Indonesian airspace after it dropped off Malaysian military radar. The plane may have been intentionally taken along a route designed to avoid radar detection, the source said. Source: MH370 skirted Indonesia radar Source: MH370 skirted Indonesia radar Official: Search teams detect 2nd pulse China: Pulse signals lasted over a minute China: Ship detects pulse signal In the search for the plane in the Indian Ocean, the Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01 picked up two signals, one on Friday and another on Saturday, that were only 2 kilometers (1.25 miles) apart, authorities said. "This is an important and encouraging lead, but one that I urge you to continue to treat carefully," Angus Houston, the head of the Australian agency coordinating search operations, said Sunday. The electronic pulses were consistent with those emitted by pingers on an aircraft's flight data and voice recorders, he said, but haven't been verified as coming from Flight 370. Sounds travel long distances underwater, he said, making it difficult to ascertain their sources. If detectors were near a pinger, they would pick up the signal for a more sustained period. Houston also said that search authorities were informed Sunday that the Ocean Shield, an Australian naval vessel equipped with sophisticated listening equipment, has detected "an acoustic noise" in another area of the ocean. The signals are the latest leads in a huge, multinational hunt for Flight 370, which disappeared almost a month ago over Southeast Asia with 239 people on board. Investigators have so far been unable to say why the plane flew far off course or where it ended up. Read more here