The ROV submarine tasked with searching for the black box of EgyptAir flight MS804 in the Mediterranean awaits the arrival of a French ship equipped to receive signals from the box.
A government source told Daily News Egypt that the ship is due to arrive on Tuesday. It will help to narrow down the search area in the deep water. Once the box is found, the submarine will take it to the surface.
Yesterday, the Egyptian Navy commissioned the submariners to expand the search to 80 sqkm, which could lengthen the timeframe, the source said.
A team of engineers is running the ship that controls the submarine, in addition to six navy officers in charge of the crew.
The vessel laden with the submarine was received by the navy and moved at 12.00am on Thursday to arrive at the crash site at 1.00pm on Friday.
The source said the cost of renting the submarine and the ship, as well as the staff, amounts to $53,000 per day, paid for by the oil sector.
Should wreckage be found, the ship will use its winch to lift it, as it could bear a weight of up to 150 tonnes.
The ROV submarine is owned by Deeptech Oil Services, a partner with the Ministry of Petroleum. The ship carrying the submarine is owned by BMS offshore oil services. The submarine operates at a depth of between 2,500 to 3,000 metres, at which humans cannot work due to the high pressure.
EgyptAir flight MS804, which was flying from Paris to Cairo, crashed in the Mediterranean Sea during the early hours of Thursday morning, killing all 66 people onboard.
