Sweep of ocean floor fails to find plane 'pings'

Search crews hunting for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet have failed to relocate faint sounds heard deep below the Indian Ocean said to have been consistent with a plane’s black boxes.

Angus Houston, the retired Australian air chief marshal who is heading the search operation far off Australia’s west coast, said sound locating equipment on board the Ocean Shield picked up no trace of the signals since they were first heard late on Saturday and early on Sunday.