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- US Coast Guard patrol the area off Martha's Vineyard
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- The body of John F Kennedy Jnr and parts of his plane's
fuselage were located after four days of round-the clock searching.
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- Hampered by strong currents and cold temperatures, US
Navy and Coast Guard salvage and search teams combed the waters around
near Martha's Vineyard, off the coast of Massachusetts.
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- The single engine Piper Saratoga plane, which reportedly
lay 30m deep, was discovered by remote-controlled submersible vehicles
using sonar, rather than by diving teams.
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- The remains and wreckage were found at night, but officials
kept the details secret for several hours out of respect for the family.
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- Experts are still deciding how best to conduct the salvage
operation.
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- Four ships involved
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- Divers from the Massachusetts State Police and the Navy
salvage vessel USS Grasp were part of the underwater search effort.
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- Also involved were the Rude, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration research ship, the NOAA's Whiting, and the Coast Guard cutter
Willow.
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- Working in visibility of less than eight feet, the divers
were only able to search for 15 minutes at a time, due to the depth of
the water.
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- Beneath the ocean's surface, the operation had to contend
with crabs, octopus, seaweed and debris.
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- One object that sonar maps showed might have been a piece
of the plane turned out to be a 14-foot rock.
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- 'Splash point' located
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- Divers initially honed down the number of target sites
being searched to just two, using radar information that indicated where
the plane hit the water.
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- "We have a theoretical splash point that we feel
very good about," said Admiral Richard Larrabee of the US Coast Guard.
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- The "splash point" lay around 11km south of
Gay Head on Martha's Vineyard, officials said.
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