
RIO DE JANEIRO, July 30 (UPI) -- France sent an oceanographic ship to the area of the Atlantic Ocean believed to hold the remains of Air France Flight 447, officials said Thursday.
Locator beacons on the plane's flight recorders are no longer functioning, but the vessel Pourquoi Pas? is using lateral scanning sonar and the submersible units Victor 6000 and Nautile to look for debris sites on the sea floor, CNN reported.
Representatives of the investigatory agency, BEA, hope that will lead to finding the recorders.
The search for "pings" from the recorders ended July 10, BEA officials told CNN.
The plane went down in a storm on June 1 on a flight to Rio de Janeiro, killing 216 passengers and 16 crew.The acoustic beacons on the recorders are designed to ping for about 30 days.
BEA investigators say they hope the recorders hold the key to the cause of the crash.
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