The United States Navy has backtracked from comments made by a senior officer that it no longer believed four pings detected in the Indian Ocean were from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.  The deputy director of ocean engineering, Michael Dean, told CNN on Thursday the best theory was now that the pings detected in the Indian Ocean – which were used to attempt to pinpoint the location of the missing plane – did not originate from the plane.  He said he believed the noises could have been produced by the search vessels involved in the mission, and that other countries involved in the search had reached the conclusion that the pings did not originate from the plane.  “Our best theory at this point is that [the pings were] likely some sound produced by the ship [the Ocean Shield] ... or within the electronics of the towed pinger locator," Dean said.  "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," he said.  But in a subsequent statement the US Navy said Dean’s comments were premature, and that the US continued to work cooperatively with Australia.  In a statement on Thursday the US Navy said: “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.”  The Australian prime minister, Tony Abbott, has previously said he was “very confident” the pings detected were emanating from the plane.  The US Navy has been heavily involved in the search, which was overseen by captain Mark Matthews in Perth.  Australia’s Joint Agency Coordination Centre have been contacted for comment.
Senior officer was 'premature' in claiming pings probably came from a search ship or pinger locator itself, says US military