HEMPHILL, Texas, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- Recovery teams used side-scan sonar Tuesday to search an east Texas reservoir where divers found a piece of possible debris from space shuttle Columbia.
The wreckage was discovered late Monday in Toledo Bend Reservoir, which straddles the Texas-Louisiana state line, Environmental Protection Agency spokesman Dave Bary said.
"Diving operations will continue Tuesday and debris recovery will resume to the extent possible," he said.
Clear skies and warmer weather have improved conditions for the water recovery operation. A cold rain prevented reservoir operations last week.
Witnesses reported seeing chunks of debris fall into Toledo Bend on Feb. 1 when Columbia broke apart at more than 200,000 feet above Texas, killing seven astronauts.
Coast Guard side-scan sonar is being used to check areas in the southern end of the lake where the falling debris was seen. When likely targets are found, divers from federal, state and local agencies are sent out to check the suspect debris.
"Three promising targets have been identified but I'm unsure how many have been dived to determine if there is material on the lake bottom," Bary said. "We'll see what Tuesday's operation brings us."
EPA deployed about 45 teams Tuesday to join in the search that stretches about 250 miles from the Fort Worth area southeast to western Louisiana. Hundreds of federal, state and local officers and volunteers are involved in the massive recovery.
Columbia was traveling at more than 18 times the speed of sound, 16 minutes from a landing in Florida, when it broke apart over Texas. The most concentrated debris has been found in east Texas.
More than 12,000 pieces of debris have been recovered, according to NASA. Most of that debris was recovered in and around the small towns, but now the recovery operation is expanding into the remote, rural areas.
The EPA teams are called in when debris is discovered because of the potential toxic danger from shuttle wreckage.
"We have identified and recovered numerous pieces of hazardous material, primarily toxic chemicals associated with rocket propellants," Bary said.
School grounds and most public areas have been cleared, the EPA official said, and now the focus has turned to the rural areas. The terrain ranges from open prairie land in the Fort Worth area to thick, piney woods in East Texas.
