Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said the existence of large fuel stains in the water likely ruled out an explosion, undercutting speculation about a bomb attack. -- PHOTO: AFP
FERNANDO DE NORONHA (Brazil) - SEARCH crews flying over the Atlantic found debris from a crashed Air France jet spread over more than 55 miles (90 km) of ocean on Wednesday, reinforcing the possibility it broke up in the air.
But Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said the existence of large fuel stains in the water likely ruled out an explosion, undercutting speculation about a bomb attack.
FRANCE is dispatching a mini-submarine that can explore to a depth of 19,680 feet (6,000 metres) and will try to locate the Airbus' flight data and voice recorders, which should shed light on the crash.
The recorders are designed to send homing signals for up to 30 days when they hit water, but there is no guarantee they even survived the impact with the sea, Arslanian said.
FRENCH and Brazilian officials have described a 'burst' of messages from Flight 447 just before it disappeared.
A more complete chronology was published Wednesday by Brazil's O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper, citing an unidentified Air France source, and confirmed to The Associated Press by an aviation industry source with knowledge of the investigation:
'The existence of oil stains could exclude the possibility of a fire or explosion,' he said at a news conference in Brasilia. 'If we have oil stains, it means it wasn't burned.' Experts said extreme turbulence or decompression may have caused the Airbus A330 to splinter two days ago on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people on board.
The first Brazilian navy ship was nearing the crash area, about 685 miles (1,100 km) northeast of Brazil's coast, to begin retrieving debris. French officials said they may never discover why the plane went down as the flight data and voice recorders may be lost at the bottom of the ocean.
Air force pilots searching the area have reported no signs of survivors and officials said recovering bodies may be extremely difficult.
'As well as bodies sinking, you also have problems along the coast of Pernambuco (state) that you know about,' Jobim said in reference to sharks. He added bodies could take several days to float to the surface.
Newly spotted traces of the plane included a 12-mile (20-km) fuel stain and various objects spread across a 3-mile (5-km) area, including one metallic object 23 feet (7 metres) in diameter.
The plane sent no mayday signals before crashing, only automatic messages indicating electrical faults and a loss of pressure shortly after it entered stormy weather.
'If the decompression reading was correct, it caused a structural problem ... it is a very violent event that causes pieces to come apart and that explains why the wreckage is spread out so much,' said Kirk Koenig, a commercial pilot and president of Indianapolis-based Expert Aviation Consulting.
'It's like when you see an Indy 500 race car being hit and pieces start to come off,' he added. -- REUTERS
