EgyptAir chairman Safwat Moslem did not name the companies involved,
but he told a news conference they were able to search at a depth of
3,000 metres.
Part of a
plane chair among recovered debris of the EgyptAir jet that crashed in
the Mediterranean Sea is seen in this handout image released May 21,
2016 by Egypt's military.
Egypt is taking on two companies, one French and one Italian, to help search for the black boxes of the EgyptAir plane that crashed in the Mediterranean, the airline's chairman said on Wednesday
EgyptAir
flight 804 crashed on May 19 with 66 people on board including 30
Egyptians and 15 from France, and nearly a week later investigators have
no clear picture of the plane's final moments.
EgyptAir
chairman Safwat Moslem did not name the companies involved, but he told
a news conference they were able to search at a depth of 3,000 metres.
The
plane and its black box recorders, which could explain what brought
down the Paris-to-Cairo flight as it entered Egyptian air space, have
not been located.
The black boxes are believed to
be lying in up to 3,000 metres of water, on the edge of the range for
hearing the signals, emitted once a second.
Maritime
search experts say this means acoustic hydrophones must be towed in the
water at depths of up to 2,000 metres in order to have the best chance
of picking up the signals, which should last for 30 days.
Until recently, aviation sources say, the US Navy
or its private contractor Phoenix International were considered among
the only sources for equipment needed to search on the correct frequency
for black box pingers at such depths.
The US Navy said on Tuesday it had not been asked for help.
Sources
within the Egyptian investigation committee said earlier on Wednesday
that the jet had not shown any sign of technical problems before taking
off from Paris.
Speaking on condition of
anonymity, they said the plane disappeared off radar screens less than a
minute after entering Egyptian airspace and - contrary to reports from
Greece - there was no sign that it had swerved sharply before crashing.
The crew did not make contact with Egyptian air traffic control, they said.
An
Egyptian forensics official said 23 bags of body parts had been
collected, the largest no bigger than the palm of a hand. The official
said their size pointed to an explosion although no trace of explosives
had been detected.
But Hisham Abdelhamid, head of
Egypt's forensics authority, said this assessment was "mere assumptions"
and that it was too early to draw conclusions.
At
least two other sources with direct knowledge of the investigation also
said it would be premature to say what caused the plane to plunge into
the sea.
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