UK ship joins missing Malaysia plane hunt

The crew on board this British Royal Navy ship are working round the clock to find the flight recorders from the Malaysia airliner jet, which vanished on March 8.

HMS Echo was diverted from gathering data to help scour the southern Indian Ocean for a trace of Flight MH370.

The vessel has specialist equipment adapted to pick up signals from the jet's black box flight recorders.

Sonar signals were detected last week by search teams - but no new signals have been confirmed since last Tuesday.

No one knows why the Beijing bound jet diverted thousands of kilometres off course but a Malaysian official denied a report that the co-pilot onboard the doomed jet made a desperate phone call before its demise.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MALAYSIA DEFENCE MINISTER, HISHAMMUDDIN HUSSEIN, SAYING:

"As far as I know, no. But like I said, that would be in the realm of the police, and the other international agencies. And when the time comes, that would be revealed. But I do