UN-backed nuke watchdog says no explosion detected

A UN-backed nuclear monitoring organization says it has not detected an explosion or crash linked to the disappearance of the Malaysian plane.   [Special coverage]

UN Chief Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said in a briefing that the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization confirmed over the weekend that neither an explosion nor a plane crash on land or on water had been detected so far.

The Vienna-based organization operates a worldwide monitoring system to collect acoustic and seismic signals. The system has been put in place to detect nuclear explosions, but is also able to detect the explosion of a larger aircraft, as well as its impact on the ground or on water. It detected the crash of a plane at Narita airport in Japan in March 2009.