French send specialist vessel to aid search for EgyptAir crash site

France has dispatched a specialist naval vessel to the area where EgyptAir flight MS804 is believed to have crashed into the Mediterranean Sea. The vessel will be carrying staff from the French air accident investigation service, the BEA.
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The ship – a marine survey vessel, Laplace, sailed from Porto Vecchio, Corsica, on Thursday and should begin operations in the area that the A320 aircraft is believed to have crashed just over a week ago.
Some 66 passengers and crew died in the crash. But although the site is just 183 miles from the Egyptian coastline the aircraft’s flight data recorders have not yet been recovered.
An Egyptian submarine has been searching the area of the Mediterranean since May 23 but it does not have the specialist equipment found on the French vessel, particularly as the wreckage is believed to be in some of the deepest water in the Med as far as 3km down.
The Laplace is equipped with three Detector 6000 long-range acoustic detection systems manufactured by the French company Alseamar which can locate the signals from the “black boxes” within a 5km range.
Egyptian authorities will continue to lead the investigation.