Air France Jet Didn’t Explode, Says Brazil

FAB search Spread over more than 90 km (56 miles) of ocean debris from the crashed Air France jet en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris were found by Brazilian search crews flying over the Atlantic. Nelson Jobim, Brazil's  Defense Minister, said the existence of large fuel stains in the water could rule out an explosion.

"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 during stormy weather may have caused the Airbus A330 to splinter over the ocean with 228 people on board.

The plane took off from Rio de Janeiro bound for Paris on Sunday night. Two Brazilian navy ships have since arrived in the crash area, about 1,100 km (683 miles) northeast of Brazil's coast and started retrieving  debris.

French officials say 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. Officials said recovering bodies may be extremely difficult.

Newly spotted traces of the plane included a 20km fuel stain and various objects spread across a 5km area, including one metallic object seven meters (23 feet) in diameter.

The Air France plane sent no mayday signals before crashing, only automatic messages showing electrical faults and a loss of pressure shortly after it entered stormy weather.

France is dispatching a mini-submarine that can explore to a depth of 6,000 meters (20,000 feet) and will try to locate the Airbus' flight data and voice recorders, which could 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.

Mercopress

Tags:

You May Also Like

Brazil: Mercosur and Egypt Dreaming of Free Trade

The Mercosur, the customs union between Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, has already sent ...

Europe to Get Brazil’s Eco-fabric

In December, Brazilian stylist Caio Von Vogt will be exporting his first load of ...

Brazil Decides Drinking More Coffee Is the Answer to the Coffee Crisis

One of the decisions of the 2nd World Coffee Conference, which took place this ...

Celebrating Olympics Brazilians Take Over Twitter with Irreverent and Risquí© Crí©u

 Brazilians celebrated their victory over Chicago, Tokyo and Madrid and the right to host ...

Brazil's poultry cooperative Aurora

The Good Life of a Brazilian Chicken While Search Goes on for Super Bird

It eats little and gains weight quickly, it has large breasts and legs, is ...

Putin in Brazil for Russia’s WTO Ambitions

Although a number of memorandums will be signed in various areas, the main objective ...

His Mission: Spread the Koran That He Translated Throughout Brazil

Professor Helmi Mohammed Ibrahim Nasr distributed Thursday, March 16, copies of the Portuguese translation ...

Brazil-Paraguay Dispute over Itaipu Delays Mercosur Summit

The summit among the presidents of Mercosur has been postponed for July 24 and ...

More Brazilian Soldiers Make Their Way to Haiti

The last group of Brazilian soldiers slated to join the 5th contingent of the ...