Page:Report of the Board of Inquiry into the Helderberg air disaster.djvu/50

Rh identified at co-ordinates 19°10′5″ S and 59°36′57″ E at a depth of 4 400 m. The debris field position was then marked by the use of two underwater transponder beacons.

The wreckage pleces on the sea bed were found dispersed in two oblong areas with light wreckage some 2,4 kilometres to the North-west of the two areas which were displaced in the direction of the normal flight path. A plan of these areas is annexed as Appendix A Volume 2 pp –.

The longitudinal axes of the two oblong areas were in a general direction of approximately 320° magnetic, which is the estimated direction of the ocean current in that region. This does not imply that the aircraft was not on a more or less correct flight path at the time of the initial impact. The flight path, if not disturbed, would have been in the direction of 250° magnetic.

The two oblong wreckage areas can be referred to as the North-eastern and South-western areas. The North-eastern area is approximately 900 m long and 450 m wide. The