Malaysia missing MH370 plane: Ping doubts 'speculative'
A huge multinational search operation was mounted for the missing plane
The US Navy has described as "speculative" claims that underwater pings thought linked to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane were probably not coming from the jet.
Michael Dean, the US Navy's deputy director of ocean engineering, told CNN the acoustic signals probably came from some other man-made source.
But the US Navy subsequently called Mr Dean's comments "premature".
Flight MH370 went missing on 8 March as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.
Using satellite data, officials have concluded that the airliner, which had 239 people on board, ended its journey in the Indian Ocean, north-west of the Australian city of Perth.
'Another blow'
Four pings that officials believed could be from the missing plane's "black box" flight recorders were heard by search teams using specialist equipment. These pings have defined the area for the sea-floor search that is continuing.
"Our best theory at this point is that [the pings were] likely some sound produced by the ship... or within the electronics of the Towed Pinger Locator," Mr Dean said.
He was referring to the pinger locator used by search teams to listen for underwater signals.
"Always your fear any time you put electronic equipment in the water is that if any water gets in and grounds or shorts something out, that you could start producing sound," Mr Dean said.
Shortly afterwards, US Navy spokesman Chris Johnson dismissed the comments.
"The US has been working co-operatively with our Malaysian, Australian and international partners for more than two months in an effort to locate MH370," Mr Johnson said in a statement.
"Mike Dean's comments today were speculative and premature, as we continue to work with our partners to more thoroughly understand the data acquired by the Towed Pinger Locator.
"As such, we would defer to the Australians, as the lead in the search effort, to make additional information known at the appropriate time."
Mr Dean's comments will be seen as another blow for the search teams that have now been scouring the southern Indian ocean for more than two months, the BBC's Jon Donnison in Sydney reports.
It begs the question as to whether search teams are looking in the right place, he adds.
The ongoing multinational search for the missing plane - shaping up to be the most expensive in aviation history - has yet to yield any concrete findings.
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