Air France Flight 447: Brazil to begin bodies ID

June 11, 2009

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The first 16 bodies recovered from the scene of the Air France crash in the Atlantic ocean have been flown to the Brazilian city of Recife.

The bodies were taken to the city's mortuary, where the process of identification will be carried out.

A French nuclear submarine has joined the hunt for the data recorders - which would provide clues to the crash.

French investigators say no link has yet been established between the crash and the aircraft's speed monitors.

Speculation about what caused the Airbus 330 to come down between Rio de Janeiro and Paris on 1 June has so far focused on the possibility that the airspeed sensors, known as pitot probes, were not working.

The plane is known to have registered inconsistent speed readings just before it crashed in turbulent weather.

'Different mission'

So far, only 41 bodies have been recovered from the area where Air France flight 447 - with 228 people on board - is known to have come down.

Debris from the plane has also been found some 1,000km (600 miles) north-east of the Fernando de Noronha islands, which are about 320km off the north-eastern coast of Brazil.

The first 16 bodies were flown to the temporary morgue in Recife from Fernando de Noronha on Wednesday.

Investigators hope they can use dental records and DNA tests to confirm identities. DNA samples have been taken from relatives of passengers to help with the process.

Meanwhile, the French nuclear submarine - the Emeraude - has joined Brazil's naval and air forces in the hunt for the flight's data recorders.

They have a large and remote area of ocean to search and are in a race against time as the "black boxes" emit a locator signal for only about 30 days.

The recorders could also be up to 6,100m (20,000ft) deep on the bed of the Atlantic.

The Emeraude has sonar equipment on board and is expected to be able to cover an area of about 26 sq km (10 sq miles) each day.

"The submarine's main function is to search for the recorders," Brig Gen Ramon Cardoso of Brazil's Aviation Authority said.

"It will not be taking part in the search for bodies or debris."

The US is also joining the search, sending two sophisticated listening devices, which will be deployed on two vessels hired by France. They will be towed in a grid pattern across the search area.

If the aircraft's two black boxes are located, a mini-submarine called the Nautile will be sent down to retrieve them. The vessel, which has a crew of three and is about 8m long, is the same one which explored the wreck of the Titanic.

'Airworthy'

France's Investigation and Analysis Bureau (BEA), which is in charge of the technical side of the inquiry, on Thursday played down speculation that a problem with the airspeed sensors caused the crash.

"There is as yet no link between the pitot and the causes of the accident," a BEA spokeswoman was quoted by the AFP news agency as saying.

Earlier, Air France's Managing Director Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said he was "not convinced" that faulty speed monitors were to blame.

He was responding to criticism after it emerged that Air France had received replacement pitot probes for similar aircraft three days before the crash.

He said Air France had ordered the replacements in late April after pilots noted a loss of airspeed data in flight on Airbus A330 and A340 models.

But the incidents were "not catastrophic" and planes with the old pitots were considered airworthy, he said.

However, Mr Gourgeon said, a programme to replace the external sensors would be stepped up all the same "because we know that during this accident there was a problem with measuring speed".

The recovery of the black boxes is seen as key to understanding what happened, but Mr Gourgeon said even without them more information should be known about the crash in a week.

"We will know much more, I think, after the autopsies allow us to better understand the technical causes of death and when the debris have been examined by experts," he said.

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SEARCH FOR FLIGHT AF 447
1 June: Contact lost with plane over mid-Atlantic
2 June: First debris spotted from the air includes an airline seat. Brazilian defence minister says debris is from missing plane
3 June: More debris spotted, including a 7m-wide chunk of metal. Fuel slick seen on surface
4 June: Recovered buoys and pallet said to be from plane. Officials later retract statement
6 June: First two bodies, plus suitcase and backpack found, along with seat from the plane
7 June: Fourteen additional bodies recovered, taking total to 16
8 June: Large tail fin section found

Moldova

Air France Flight 447: Brazil to begin bodies ID