Airbus criminal probe over crash

AFP - Airbus is to face a criminal probe for alleged manslaughter in connection with the 2009 crash of a plane en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with the loss of 228 lives, the manufacturer said Thursday.

The move came after investigating magistrate Sylvie Zimmerman summoned Airbus and Air France to appear in court to be possibly "mise en examen", a French legal term meaning there is a case to be answered in court.

"I can confirm that the investigative magistrates have put Airbus 'en examen'," the European plane manufacturer's boss Thomas Enders said following the court hearing.

The crash has been partly blamed on malfunctioning speed sensors used by Airbus, with Air France accused of not responding quickly enough to reports that they might be faulty.

Air France is to appear in court on Friday.

The announcement came ahead of the resumption of a search for the plane's wreckage in the Atlantic due on March 20 using a German mini-submarine.

No charges have yet been brought in the case, which had been suspended pending the plane's black box flight recorders being found.

A third search of the ocean floor to try to locate the black boxes ended in failure last May.