French Nuclear Submarine Joins Hunt for “Black Boxes”
In search operations of Air France plane crash, a French nuclear submarine has recently arrived in the ocean off Brazil to investigate aircraft’s data recorders.
It is believed that the “black boxes”, which emanate a locator signal for a period of about 30 days, could be up to 6,100m (20,000ft) deep, lying on the bed of the Atlantic.
The data recorders are being searched for they could provide vital clues as to why the Airbus A330 crashed on 1 June.
In meanwhile, the search crew, both the Brazilian air and the sea searches, have by now recovered 41 bodies from the plane, which had 228 people on board.
The submarine, and Brazilian naval and air forces, have a large and remote area of ocean to search.
Debris from the plane, which was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, has been found some 1,000km (600 miles) north-east of the Fernando de Noronha islands. The islands are about 320km off the north-eastern coast of Brazil.
French military spokesman Captain Christophe Prazuck said the submarine – the Emeraude – should be able to cover an area of 26 sq km each day. It has advanced radar equipment on board.
