Search teams this morning located the exact whereabouts of amissing CASA 212 jet engine in the area near Bach Long Vi Islands in the TonkinGulf.


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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 Bach Long Vi islands this morning.

The engine is said to be on the seabed some 15 nauticalmiles to the south-southeast of the islands.

The nine crew members on board the missing surveillanceaircraft and the plane’s black box remain unaccounted for.

Search teams last evening retrieved a body floating in thearea where the CASA 212 reportedly went down. The corpse was brought back toland 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 asearch operation for a Su-30MK2, which had crashed offshore near thecentral province of Nghe An last Tuesday.

The CASA 212 turboprop plane is believed to have crashedinto the Hai Phong Sea, some 44 nautical miles from Bach Long Vi Islands.

Airbus, the maker of the CASA 212, had earlier offeredtechnical assistance to identify the cause of the accident.

Deputy Prime Minister Trinh Dinh Dungsaid the first priority currently is to urgently search for the missing crewmembers and then look for aircraft debris and wreckage to investigate thecrash.

Admiral Phan Ngoc Minh said searchefforts are on 24/7 even in unfavorable weather conditions during high tide.

VNS