RECOVERY TEAMS WORKING off the north-eastern coast of Brazil have recovered another 75 bodies from the wreckage of the Air France jet that crashed there almost two years ago.
The new find, confirmed just a day before the second anniversary of the disaster, brings to 125 the total number of bodies found in the wreckage of the Airbus jet.
The recovery of the bodies was confirmed to CNN by a spokesperson for the French victims’ association, who in turn had been given the information by a French government liaison.
A similar confirmation came via the Brazilian victims’ association through the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, which reported that 77 bodies had been found – bringing the total number of bodies recovered to 127.
The previous 50 bodies were found in the main fuselage of the stricken jet in the first weeks of the recovery efforts. Investigators said at that time that many bodies were still in the main cabin.
All 228 people on board Air France flight 447 died when the Airbus A330 plane crashed off the coast of Brazil on June 1, 2009. Among the victims were three newly-qualified Irish doctors.
It has meanwhile been reported that recordings salvaged from the plane showed speed readings in the cockpit had gone haywire, most likely as a result of ice building up on the jet’s speed sensors.
A junior pilot is reported by Reuters to have pulled up the nose of the aircraft, in an attempt to stop the plane from weaving from side to side – a move which goes against industry convention to lower the nose, to avoid a ‘stall’.
The main pilot on the flight was on a scheduled rest break when the problems began, and was not in the cockpit at the time. When he returned to the cockpit he did not take back the controls.
Previous information from the recordings suggested that the plane entered a ‘deep stall’ before falling 38,000 feet towards the Atlantic.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say