BEA press conference
1. The debris field exact location is not to be disclosed (in the North West large abyssal plain about 10 NM from LKP) for security reasons.
2. The debris field was first identified yesterday night around 19.00 (Paris). Its size is about 600 x 200 meters (including both engines, cabin, wings, landing gears).
3. The Remus were sent back to take some pictures of the field, cruising about 10 meters above the wreckage. The sea botom is flat and soft, made of sand or vase. Parts of the landing gears appears to be sinking into it.
4. Actually, the Remus are used to make a complete photographical report including geo-localization of all the wreckages (quadrillage). This would take several days to complete this work.
5. The bodies found would be recovered in the next phase. The main goal now is to find the recorders, still to be found.
6. Next phase will start with a new ship using ROVs, funded by French government, in order to recover the findings. It should start in about 3-4 weeks and 3 ships have been offered the job (one from France telecom, one from Alcatel-Lucent and one from a US company).