Black box 'sunk too deep'

2004-01-07 14:03

Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt - Searchers resumed efforts on Wednesday to locate a second "black box" flight data recorder from a crashed charter jet, as families of the French tourists who died were heading to this Red Sea resort for memorial services.

Crews located one of the "black boxes" on Tuesday but said it was too deep underwater - at about 600 to 800 metres below the surface - to be retrieved with equipment they have on hand.

Experts sought on Wednesday to further pinpoint the location so they can recover the recorder when specialized underwater equipment arrives in about a week, while other teams fanned out in the area in hopes of locating the second black box.

Flash Airlines flight FSH604 bound for Paris via Cairo crashed shortly after takeoff on Saturday, killing all 148 people aboard. Most victims were French tourists who had been on vacation in Sharm el-Sheik, a popular seaside resort about 480km southeast of Cairo. Flowers at sea

French family members were to fly in later on Wednesday on a jet chartered by the French government for two services on Thursday - a religious one on land and a ceremony at sea where flowers will be dropped into the area where the plane went down. French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin also was to attend.

France has sent in 500 personnel to help Egypt with search and recovery, along with equipment including a robot submarine that can retrieve items from the seabed. But the robot can operate no deeper than 400m so the French now plan to bring in another remote-control submarine that can go farther down. It could take a week to arrive, however.

A French officer, Rear Admiral Jacques Mazars, told reporters on Tuesday night that a signal from one of the black boxes - first picked up on Monday night and confirmed on Tuesday - is about 500 to 600m from where the plane is believed to have hit the water. The jet's fuselage has yet to be found.

The crash coincided with heightened global concerns about terrorism in the skies, but Egypt quickly ruled out the possibility of an attack and called the crash an accident caused by an unspecified mechanical failure.

French officials have agreed the crash appears to have been an accident, although the nation's top aviation official said on Monday night he couldn't rule out terrorism.

It has emerged that Swiss aviation regulators had banned Flash Airlines over safety worries more than a year ago, although Egyptian officials said the Boeing 737 jet checked out fine before the ill-fated flight. France said it was aware of Switzerland's concerns and conducted three checks of its own on aircraft operated by the private Egyptian company, with satisfactory results.

- SAPA