Mini-subs sent to look for jet
2009-06-02 19:08
Paris - A French research ship equipped with two mini-submarines is on its way to a stretch of the Atlantic where an Air France flight carrying 228 people vanished, officials said on Tuesday.
The "Pourquoi Pas" ("Why Not") will join the hunt currently being carried out by French and Brazilian air force jets hundreds of kilometres off the Brazilian coast, the ecology ministry said in a statement.
The mini-subs it carries can work at depths of up to 6 000m. The ocean area where the plane disappeared has maximum depths of 4 700m, French naval experts said.
Black boxes
The black boxes aboard the missing Air France jet can survive as deep as 6 000m underwater and emit a signal for one month, according to French air disaster investigators.
But none has ever been found this deep in the ocean, they said.
A French military spokesperson meanwhile said he believed that aircraft debris found by the Brazilian air force "appeared to be a very serious lead".
The items include a seat from a plane, bits of white material, an orange buoy, a barrel and fuel slicks, according to the air force, which said it could not be immediately confirmed that the debris was from the Air France flight.
Three cargo ships nearby - two Dutch-flagged and one French - had
also been asked to deviate to inspect the area and should arrive "in
the next few hours", a Brazilian navy official, Lieutenant Henrique
Afonso Lima, said.
- AFP