theSun | FRIDAY JUNE 5 2009
news without borders
Plane debris found, explosion unlikely FERNANDO DE NORONHA (Brazil):
Search crews flying over the Atlantic
found debris from a crashed Air France
jet spread over more than 90km of
ocean on Wednesday, reinforcing the
possibility it broke up in the air.
But Brazilian Defence Minister Nelson
Jobim said the existence of large fuel stains
in the water likely ruled out an explosion,
undercutting speculation about a bomb
attack.
“The existence of oil stains could
exclude the possibility of a fire or
explosion,” he said at a news confer-
ence in Brasilia. “If we have oil stains, it
means it wasn’t burned.”
Experts said extreme turbulence or de-
compression 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 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.
People listen to an ecumenical service outside
the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris in memory
Newly spotted traces of the plane includ-
ed a 20km fuel stain and various objects
of the passengers and crew of the missing Air
France flight A330-200.
spread across a 5-km area, including
one metallic object 7m in diameter.
The plane sent no mayday signals before
crashing, only automatic messages indicat-
ing electrical faults and a loss of pressure
shortly after it entered stormy weather.
“If the decompression reading was cor-
rect, 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 Indiana-
polis-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.
Aviation trade publications focused on
a series of warnings in recent months is-
sued by US and European regulators about
electronic systems on A330s and A340s that
could throw planes into sharp dives. The
directives covered ADIRUs – air data inertial
reference units – which feed crucial infor-
mation to the cockpit to help fly planes.
Jorge Amaral, a Brazilian air force
colonel, said the long strip of metal found
on Wednesday was the biggest piece that
search crews had seen so far.
“We are considering this 7-metre piece
to be part of the plane, possibly part of the
side, a piece of steel. It could be part of the
fuselage or the tail,” he told reporters.
The French investigation will have its
first report ready by the end of the month,
and will be led by Alain Bouillard, who took
charge of the investigation into the crash of
an Air France Concorde in 2000.
France held an ecumenical religious
ceremony for relatives and friends of those
on the plane at Notre Dame Cathedral in
Paris on Wednesday, attended by President
Nicolas Sarkozy. – Reuters
9
briefs
China security tight in
Tiananmen, US critical
BEIJING: China smothered Tiananmen
Square with police yesterday to prevent
commemoration of the crackdown on
pro-democracy protesters 20 years ago,
as Washington demanded Beijing account
for those killed.
In a sign of Beijing’s mix of confidence
and caution, Tiananmen Square was open
to visitors yesterday, with hundreds of
police and guards present.
Thousands in China-ruled Hongkong
attended a candlelight vigil last night to
mark the anniversary.
In a statement, US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton called on China to release all
those still imprisoned in connection with
the protests, to stop harassing those who
took part and to begin a dialogue with the
victims’ families.– Reuters
North Korea puts two
US journalists on trial
SEOUL: North Korea put two US jour-
nalists on trial yesterday on charges
of illegally entering the state with
“hostile intent”, in a case that could
worsen tension with Washington after
Pyongyang’s nuclear test last week.
The journalists, Euna Lee and Laura
Ling of the US media outlet Current TV,
were taken into custody in March near
the border between China and North
Korea while working on a story. The TV
network was co-founded by former US
vice president Al Gore.
Experts say the pair could face a
sentence of 10 years or more of hard
labour. They add a guilty verdict is
almost certain. – Reuters