RECIFE, Brazil — A French navy nuclear submarine reached the crash zone of Air France Flight 447 on Wednesday to join the search for the plane’s black boxes, which may be the key to determining what brought the Airbus down in the sea off Brazil with 228 people on board.
The attack sub Emeraude plans to trawl 13 square miles a day, using sonar to try to pick up the boxes’ acoustic beacons or "pingers,” French armed forces spokesman Christophe Prazuck said.
It’s a race against time, because the beacons will start to fade 30 days after the May 31 crash. If the boxes are spotted, the Emeraude will work with the mini-sub Nautile, which can descend to the ocean floor and was a key part of the search for the Titanic.
"It’s going to be very complicated and we’re going to need a lot of luck” to find the boxes, Prazuck told France-Info radio.
The French submarines will be aided by two U.S. military underwater audio devices capable of picking up signals even at a depth of 20,000 feet.
The listening devices, expected to arrive in the area by Sunday, will be towed in a grid pattern while a 10-person team aboard the vessel monitors signals from the locators.
From Germany, more confirmation came Wednesday about rough weather over the Atlantic along the same route as the Air France crash. Lufthansa confirmed a report that a passenger was injured when a flight hit turbulence two days before the Air France crash.
by the associated press
No comments:
Post a Comment