Remains of 60 bodies found: French submarine searches for ruins of the Egyptian plane
A French submarine arrived yesterday in Sharm Esh Sheikh and started immediately search operations for the remains of the killed passengers and ruins of the Egyptian plane which fell on Saturday in the Red Sea.
The automatic submarine can dive into a depth of 400 meters under the sea level, and the French Frigate "Treufille" will arrive in Sharm Esh Sheikh today coming from Djibouti. A source in the French Navy said that the frigate will help in finding the plane's two black boxes, thanks to its special radar system.
French experts joined the search operations with advanced equipment. Also taking part in the search efforts are the Egyptian air and naval forces, in addition to volunteers of professional divers.
To facilitate these operations, the Egyptian authorities decided to block Nimeh Gulf in Sharm Esh Sheikh to naval movement not that are not linked to the search operations.
Latest news reported the evacuation of 60 bodies of the plane's victims. One of the participating divers in the search operations said that the fish ate certain bodies.
However, the hypothesis of the technical error is still overwhelming in the statements of the Egyptian and French officials. The Egyptian minister of aviation, Ahmad Shafiq, said that the plane fell from a height of 5,000 feet in 17 seconds.
Shafiq told journalists in Sharm Esh Sheikh that the problem took place when the plane turned around in an unplanned way, noting that it was trying to return back, following a technical problem. He denied the incident to be a terrorist act.
All passengers of the plane, 133 French and one Moroccan woman, one Japanese woman and 13 Egyptians, the crew of the plane were all killed in the incident.
Meantime, Egypt denied reports by the media that the ill fated aircraft was prevented by the Swiss aviation authorities from landing at the Swiss airports, because it had failed to meet Swiss technical standards, dismissing these claims as completely bare of truth.