ROBOT TO CONTINUE WORK ON SEABED TO DETECT FLIGHT RECORDERS
by: Dmitri Nezdorovin
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 19, 2006 Friday 12:29 AM EST
The weather conditions allowed to continue the operation at the A-320
crash site on Thursday to find and raise the flight recorders from
the seabed.
The deep-water robot sank at 19:30 Moscow time on Thursday and ended
the work at 04:00 on Friday, a source at the operational headquarters
told Itar-Tass.
Fragments, the colour and form of which resemble the recorders, are
found at the seabed, and each of the objects is examined. The robot
has to remove obstructions. Some of the fragments are in the silt,
and it complicates the work, the source said.
The team operating the robot had a short rest on Friday morning,
and if the weather allows, the work will resume soon.
According to the earlier reports, the recorders are at the depth of
496 metres, and the distance between them is about five metres.
The A-320 of Armenia’s Armavia airline crashed into the sea on the
night to May 3 when attempting to land at Sochi’s airport. All the
113 people who were aboard died.