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Monday, 23 May 2016

Egypt deploys submarine to search for EgyptAir MS804 black boxes

Egypt deployed a submarine capable of reaching 3,000 meters below the surface of the sea on Sunday to search for black box flight recorders of EgyptAir MS804, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said in a televised speech (watch, runtime: 13:16). Underwater equipment from Egypt’s offshore oil industry was brought in to help the search, said the president, which an oil ministry source tells Reuters referred to a robot submarine used mostly to maintain offshore oil rigs.

"As of now, all scenarios are possible," El Sisi said in his first public remarks on the crash. Bloomberg, the Wall Street Journal, and the Guardian have coverage this morning.

The Egypt-led investigation committee will release a preliminary report on its findings in one month, state-run newspaper Al Ahram reported on Sunday, a tight deadline on a process that can last months, if not years. Ayman al-Moqadem, the head of Egypt’s Air Accidents Investigation department, said the report will present all data gathered by that date. Al Ahram also managed to get its hands on the Airbus accident report from the flight, showing the ACARS messages transmitted before the crash. Meanwhile, the US Navy located 100 pieces of debris positively identified as aircraft wreckage during its search for the wreckage on Saturday, according to its official Twitter feed.

The Associated Press reports that the first audio made available from the flight indicates all was routine when the aircraft checked in with air traffic controllers in Switzerland late Wednesday night. The recording was taken from www.liveatc.net, which provides live air traffic control broadcasts.

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