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.