Bodies found, no black box among 2009 Air France wreckage

[News_Editor]

Bodies found, no black box among 2009 Air France wreckage

2011-04-05 21:07:38 GMT+7 (ICT)

PARIS (BNO NEWS) -- In the fourth Air France-Airbus sea search, bodies were located among the found wreckage of Air France flight 447, which went missing in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 during a Rio de Janeiro-Paris flight, but as of Tuesday, the aircraft's black box has not been located.

On Sunday, French authorities had announced that the wreckage of the Airbus A330-200 had been located around 4,000 meters deep into the sea, nearly two years after the accident. The announcement revived hopes of finding the black box, as the discovery of the wreckage was found in a relatively concentrated area of 600 by 200 meters (2000 by 650 feet).

The black box would help reveal the cause of the accident since it records conversations between pilots, as well as flight parameters, but as of Tuesday, it had not been found.

France's Bureau of Investigations and Analysis (BEA) for civil aviation security on Monday released the first images of the wreckage, which clearly showed the aircraft's engines and landing gear, as the fourth sea search began last month, when Air France and Airbus were charged with manslaughter.

French Transportation Minister Thierry Mariani confirmed that bodies had been seen among the wreckage, and even though the ministry said the bodies could possibly be identified, he underlined that only the victims' families would be informed of certain details.

Millions of euros have been spent on search efforts, and Air France and Airbus have reportedly spent 9.2 million euros ($13 million) on the current fourth sea search.

Initial investigations have stated that the accident could have been caused by malfunction of the airplane's speed sensors (Pitot tubes), while the airline failed to respond quickly to the reports.

On June 1, 2009, an Airbus A330-200 jetliner operated by Air France as Flight 447 and on route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, France crashed near waypoint TASIL in the Atlantic Ocean around three and a half hours after taking off.

Five days after the crash, search and rescue teams recovered two bodies and floating debris from the aircraft. Only 51 bodies were recovered after the search was called off on June 27, 2009.

Due to the location of the accident, no eyewitnesses exist and the aircraft's black boxes have not been located, which are key in the investigations into the accident. The BEA has said that there is no guarantee the black boxes would be recovered.

After several failed search operations in the 17,000 square kilometers (6,600 square miles) area, Air France CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon had announced that search efforts for the aircraft's wreckage and black boxes would resume in March.

The accident marked Air France's deadliest, and BEA chief Paul-Louis Arslanian called the incident the worst accident in French aviation history.

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