Searchers fail to find black boxes of doomed AF 447 flight

AFP - French investigators said Wednesday a search of a new part of the seabed to find flight recorders from an Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic last year with the loss of 229 lives had failed.

French officials last week said the navy had closed in on the black boxes following recent re-analysis of submarine sonar data collected in June and July last year. At that time, the black boxes were still emitting a signal.

"Exploration of the new search area that resulted from the Navy's work continued with a rhythm that was slowed by technical problems," the BEA air accident investigation office said in a statement.

"After making sure that an optimal coverage of the entire zone had been carried out, the BEA decided to resume the search in the zone to the north-west of the (plane's) last known position," the BEA said.

Air France Flight 447 was en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro when it went down on June 1 in stormy weather, killing all 228 people on board.

The crash was the worst in Air France's 75-year history.