JSmithDTV:
I still maintain the the 24m object "awash" with water (you need to be able to see detail to refer to something in this way) was a wing which had sunk by the time they tried to find it...
One of the problems with multinational teams such as this is language used where for some of the people involved, English is not their first language. Hanging on how a journalist, politician or anyone else has phrased something is really making something quite often out of nothing.
You do not need to see detail to refer to something in this way - awash simply means just level or just above the surface level of the water which is pretty obvious that object was. Use of that word does not carry the inference you have associated with it regarding the detail needed.