Experts discuss Concorde safety

Investigtors continue to comb the crash site for clues

By Paris correspondent James Coomarasamy

The French Transport Minister Claude Gayssot and aviation experts are meeting again in Paris on Thursday under increasing pressure to draw up new safety measures for Concorde.

The French Government has refused to allow Air France's Concorde flights to resume until new procedures are put in place. The experts will make another attempt to determine the chain of events which led to last week's tragedy.

Officials say that until they have established exactly what happened, new safety measures cannot be put in place.

As a result, the French Government has ordered Air France's remaining five Concordes to stay in their hangers.

Vital clues

On Wednesday, pieces of the crashed aircraft's engines were carefully removed from the site in Gonesse where the plane came down.

Investigators hope they will provide vital clues to the causes of the crash.

And although the French Government's caution has been welcomed by the main pilots union here, there is growing pressure to get the grounded Concordes back in the skies.

If the experts fail to reach any conclusions it could be weeks before that happens.