Crew members from the Upper Marlboro office of Oceaneering Technologies Inc. arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, yesterday to help in the recovery of wreckage from Swissair Flight 111.

The company, based in Houston with a 150-person staff in Maryland, is under contract with the U.S. Navy to operate military-owned equipment that investigators use to gather evidence from the crash site.

Chris Klentzman, manager of government operations, said the company shipped its Deep Drone remotely operated vehicle to the site, which, unlike human divers, can spend days underwater. The unit takes video and still shots of the scene, and crew members working from the USS Grapple can maneuver its arms to gather wreckage for later study.

The vehicle is similar to the one shown in the opening scenes of "Titanic," which moved from room to room and let investigators view the ship from above.

"Our job is debris recovery," Klentzman said. "What investigators do with the debris is up to them."

He said the crew would likely spend several weeks to a month at the site, costing the Navy about $300,000 to $400,000,

Pub Date: 9/10/98