LOC00:53
21:53 GMT
PARIS, May 26 (KUNA) -- France will start a series of underwater sweeps using submarine technology to try to locate the lost Egyptair A320 Airbus that went down in Egyptian waters in the Mediterranean on May 19, official sources announced Thursday.
The French Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis (BEA) said in a statement that the operations will start "in the coming days" to try to locate the plane that crashed killing all 66 passengers and crew on board.
The ultimate aim will be to envisage a recovery of the two "Black Boxes" on Flight MS804, which should be emitting a tracker signal but which will only continue for about a month.
The operations will begin as soon as French naval vessel "Laplace" arrives on site, about 270 kilometres north of the Egytpian coast.
The French vessel is equipped with three special sonar detectors that will be used at depth to try to pick up the signals from the flight recorder.
The BEA has already sent a three-person team to Egypt to help with the investigation into the crash and Airbus has also sent a technical expert to assist.
Flight MS804 went off radar screens at 2.45 AM on May 19 after it had taken off from Paris on a flight to Cairo.
Air-traffic controllers said that it brusquely plummeted several thousand metres and veered twice before disappearing.
There is so far no explanation into the crash and no theories have been excluded. (end)
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