Searching forces looking for CASA 212 jet and its crew members in the Tonkin Gulf. A jet’s engine was located some 15 nautical miles from Bạch Long Vĩ islands this morning. Photo Việt Nam Government online newspaper |
HÀ NỘI – Search teams this morning located the exact whereabouts of a missing CASA 212 jet engine in the area near Bạch Long Vĩ Islands in the Tonkin Gulf.
The engine is said to be on the seabed some 15 nautical miles to the south-southeast of the islands.
The nine crew members on board the missing surveillance aircraft and the plane’s black box remain unaccounted for.
Search teams last evening retrieved a body floating in the area where the CASA 212 reportedly went down. The corpse was brought back to land to identify whether it was the body of one of the missing crew members.
The CASA-212 disappeared from the radar on June 16 during a search operation for a Su-30MK2, which had crashed offshore near the central province of Nghệ An last Tuesday.
The CASA 212 turboprop plane is believed to have crashed into the Hải Phòng Sea, some 44 nautical miles from Bạch Long Vĩ Islands.
Airbus, the maker of the CASA 212, had earlier offered technical assistance to identify the cause of the accident.
Deputy Prime Minister Trịnh Đình Dũng said the first priority currently is to urgently search for the missing crew members and then look for aircraft debris and wreckage to investigate the crash.
Admiral Phan Ngọc Minh said search efforts are on 24/7 even in unfavourable weather conditions during high tide. – VNS