07 May, 2011

Another Body Recovered From Air France Atlantic Crash

 

 

French officials say recovery teams have retrieved a second body from the wreckage of an Air France plane which crashed over the Atlantic in 2009, killing all on board.

The body, which was found at a depth of almost 4km (2.4 miles), was still strapped into its airline seat.

The remains of another of the 228 victims was recovered on Thursday.

The cause of the crash is unknown but the recovery of the data recorders over the past week could solve the mystery.

French officials said the "operations were carried out in the most dignified care, in difficult conditions."

A remote-controlled submarine raised the body a day after the first of the skeletal remains was recovered from the debris on the seabed.

Fifty other bodies had been found shortly after the crash on 1 June 2009.

Vital clues

Last week, the airliner's flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder were retrieved from the ocean floor.

Both recorders are said to be in good physical condition.

Experts say the data in the two flight recorders is the only hope of finding out why the plane crashed into the sea.

Air France flight 447 went down after running into an intense high-altitude thunderstorm, four hours into a flight from Rio de Janeiro.

Those on board came from more than 30 countries, though most were French, Brazilian or German.

The wreckage of the plane was discovered last month after a long search of 10,000 sq km (3,860 sq miles) of sea floor.

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