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Page last updated at 01:47 GMT, Thursday, 18 February 2010
Air France crash search to re-start off Brazil coast
Previous searches located some of the wreckage, but not the flight recorders
The search for the wreckage of an Air France jet that crashed in the Atlantic off the coast of Brazil will resume in March, French officials say.
Air France flight AF447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris disappeared on 1 June 2009, killing all 228 people on board.
Officials said two Norwegian and American ships with sonar probes and robots would be used in the new search.
Searches in the weeks after the crash found several pieces of wreckage and 51 bodies, but not the flight recorders.
The head of France's air accident investigation agency, BEA, said there was a good chance the new search would locate the so-called "black boxes".
But he acknowledged it would not be easy."First we have to find the haystack, then we look for the needle," Jean-Paul Troadec was quoted as saying by AP news agency.
Starting in mid-March, the two ships will scan a zone of 2,000 sq km (770 sq miles) in what Mr Troadec described as "one of the most complex undersea operations ever".
Preliminary findings showed that the jet's airspeed probes - called Pitot tubes - gave false readings before it crashed into the ocean, but that they were not the sole cause of the accident.
The new search is being financed by Airbus and Air France, and would cost around 10m euros ($13m; £8m), AP said.