A fresh search for the wreckage of the Air France A330 that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil in 2009, killing all 228 passengers and crew, will begin in March,says France's transport ministry.
The Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis (BEA) in the transport ministry said in a statement on Friday the search operation would begin around March 20 and would cover an area of about 10, 000 square kilometres.
This will be the fourth attempt to try to locate the wreckage, with investigators particularly anxious to retrieve the two black boxes. The boxes record flight information and cockpit conversations, which could provide vital clues about what caused the crash.
The aircraft crashed into the ocean some 1, 500 kilometres north-east of the Brazilian port of Recife while on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
Until now only small scattered pieces of the planes and about 50 bodies have been recovered.
The new search will be conducted in three phases of about a month each, the BEA said.
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