Australia ends ping area search

Australian authorities call off the search in the triangular area of the Indian Ocean where acoustic pings, possibly from the flight’s black box recorder, were heard in April.  Michael Dean of the US Navy tells CNN that almost all authorities believe the pings there did not come from the plane’s recorders.  Later, a US Navy spokesman dismisses Dean’s comments, saying:

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.