An Australian military vessel has detected two separate signals consistent with those emitted by an aircraft black box, chief coordinator for the search of missing Flight MH370 revealed on Monday.

The signals have been detected by Australian Defense Vessel Ocean Shield in the northern part of the search area, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said. The first detection was held for about two hours and 20 minutes, before the ship lost contact. On the return leg a second detection was held for approximately 13 minutes, where two distinct pinger returns were audible.

Houston disclosed, the waters where new signals were detected have a depth of 4,500 meters, which makes it difficult to retrieve the black boxes.

He showed a map to the press that the distance between the two locations where Haixun 01 and Ocean Shield respectively detected signals is 600 km.

“This is a most promising lead,” Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston said, “In the search so far, it is probably the best information that we have had."

However, "we cannot confirm until we find the wreckage," Houston said honestly, “There are many steps yet before these detections can be positively verified as being from missing flight MH370.” It could take some days before the final confirmation can be made, he indicated.