Can we please keep this thread about the search and recovery only. Start a new thread if you want to discuss stalls etc.
The debris is dispersed over "quite a compact area" of about 600 meters by 200 meters (1,960 feet by about 650 feet), he said.
All the wreckage will be brought to the surface and sent to France for study, said Jean-Paul Troadec, head of the French air accident investigation agency, the Bureau d'Enquêtes et d'Analyses, or BEA.
"We want to know what happened in this accident, most particularly so it never happens again," he said.
Three companies bidding to raise the wreck have until Thursday afternoon to submit proposals, he said.
The operation should take three weeks to a month, and will be paid for by the French government at an estimated cost of 5 million euros ($7.1 million), he said.