A French survey vessel has begun scanning the ocean floor for black boxes from an Air France jet that mysteriously crashed in the Atlantic last month, killing 228 people, investigators said Thursday.

The Pourquoi Pas? vessel from the French oceanography institute IFREMER arrived on Monday at the disaster site to launch the second phase of the search for the flight recorders, said the French air accident bureau BEA.

"The survey work of the ocean depths has begun in the area considered the most likely location," using sonars, the Nautile mini-submarine and the Victor 6000 robot for deep-sea exploration, said a BEA statement.

French and Brazilian search teams on July 10 ended their efforts to locate the signal of the black boxes of Flight 447 when the batteries powering the emissions were believed to have run out.

The Airbus 330 crashed in a storm on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1 with the loss of all 228 people on board, the worst disaster in Air France's 75-year history, and one that has yet to be explained.

French investigators have said the task of finding the flight recorders was formidable after debris was found scattered across the remote area some 1000 kilometers off Brazil's coast.

The black boxes — which are actually clad in orange metal casing to protect them and make them visible — could be lying on the ocean floor as deep as 3500 metres under water, in rugged terrain.

Phase two of the search is due to end on August 22.

The black boxes are designed to emit a signal for at least 30 days after a crash. One of the devices records flight data and the other captures the voices of the crew and other cockpit sounds.

French investigators also "took note" of an offer from Airbus to help fund a third phase of the search over a broader area, the BEA statement said.

Airbus is willing to spend up to €20-million to help in the search for the flight recorders, their airplane maker's chief executive Thomas Enders told La Tribune daily.

"We want to know what exactly happened," he said. "We are supporting an extended search by making a big contribution."

The newspaper said Airbus was willing to give between €12- and €20-million so that the search could be extended by "at least three months."

AFP

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