Australian PM confident of position of Flight MH370’s black boxes

Editor's note: Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbot said on Friday that officials are ‘very confident’ detected signals are coming from MH370's black box.

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Reporting: Ma Yujia, Guo Xiaohong, Yuan Fang, Huang Shan, Liu Qiang, Li Xiaohua, Zhang Lulu, Chris Parker, Zhang Rui

[19:23] Chinese President Xi Jinping met with visiting Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott Friday afternoon at the Great Hall of the People in downtown Beijing. Xi expressed gratitude for Australia's search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, adding that China will continue searching for the flight and stay close communication with the Australian side.

Abbott also expressed gratitude for the immediate assistance that China provided for Australia when the search for MH370 shifted from the northern corridor to the southern corridor in Australia. "China was the very first country to provide ships for the search, and we’ve been very grateful for the help," he said.

[19:15] Malaysia's air force on Friday denied CNN reports that it scrambled search aircraft shortly after Malaysia Airlines reported the missing of MH370 early on March 8. The CNN report, citing unnamed sources, also claimed the aircraft were scrambled before the authorities corroborated data indicating that the plane turned back westward, and the air force did not inform the Department of Civil Aviation or the authorities for search and rescue operations until three days later, March 11.Aqua Run 01

[18:02] Chinese patrol ship Haixun 01, Ministry of Transport vessels Donghaijiu 101 and Nanhaijiu 115 together with the Chinese navy's Kunlunshan, Jinggangshan and Haikou are searching the area, Hong said, adding that Haixun 31 and Nanhaijiu 101 of the Ministry of Transport and the Navy's Yongxingdao are still combing the eastern part of the southern Indian Ocean. According to a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry, countries in the region have the capacity to cope with the challenge through their joint efforts and China is willing to work with all sides including Australia to speed up the search.

[18:12] When asked if China is satisfied with Malaysian search work, Hong Lei, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry said Malaysia has coordinated with the international community to launch a large-scale search since the plane went missing on March 8. China will strengthen coordination and assistance with Malaysia and Australia to continue the hunt for the missing plane, he added.

[18:09] Hong Lei, a spokesman for China's Foreign Ministry on Friday expressed the country's appreciation for Australia's efforts in searching for the missing flight MH370. Hong said China had noticed media reports that the search area of the black box had been narrowed, and that China began a joint search with Australia on Thursday in the area of about 58,000 square km defined by Australia.

[15:39] China's Jiaolong deep-sea submersible can be deployed for as long as the location of missing flight MH370 is known. The submersible can take part in on-site assessment, search and rescue, and even salvage work, deputy chief designer of the submersible Hu Zhen said yesterday afternoon.

The Jiaolong, with the greatest depth range of any manned research vehicle in the world, is in good shape at present.

[13:22] According to CCTV, Abbott is going to brief Chinese President Xi Jinping personally this afternoon in Beijing on further details about the search efforts.

[13:01] "Still, confidence in the approximate position of the black box is not the same as recovering wreckage from almost four and a half kilometers beneath the sea or finally determining all that happened on the flight," Abbott added.

[13:00] Reuters: "We are confident that we know the position of the black box flight recorder to within some kilometers (miles)," Abbott said in a speech in the Chinese commercial capital Shanghai.

[12:46] Air Chief Marshal Houston said,

The Australian Joint Acoustic Analysis Centre has analysed the acoustic data and confirmed that the signal reported in the vicinity of the Australian Defence vessel Ocean Shield is unlikely to be related to the aircraft black boxes.Further analysis continues to be undertaken by Australian Joint Acoustic Analysis Centre.

[12:30] The pilot of the missing Malaysian passenger jet MH370, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, was the last to speak to air controllers, the Cable News Network (CNN) reported Thursday, citing Malaysian sources.

[12:26] "On the information I have available to me, there has been no major breakthrough in the search for MH370," retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said in a statement. "I will provide a further update if, and when, further information becomes available."

[12:08] JACC told China's Legal Daily reports that MH370's black box had been located are inaccurate and untrue.

[12:03] According to Mr Abbott, search teams needed as much information as possible from the acoustic signals before the black box batteries ran out.

[12:01] Mr Abbott said,

It's been very much narrowed down because we’ve now had a series of detections, some for quite a long peri