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Bodies of 2 passengers spur Air France search

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-06-07 22:00

RECIFE – Investigators combed a huge swath of ocean Sunday, hoping to find more floating evidence of Air France Flight 447 after the bodies of two passengers and a briefcase were pulled from the Atlantic.

In this photo released by Brazil's Air Force, air force officers watch for signs of debris from Air France Flight 447 over the Atlantic Ocean, June 6, 2009. [Agencies]

The French agency investigating the disaster said airspeed instruments on the plane had not been replaced as the maker had recommended, but cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions about what role that may have played in the crash.

The agency, BEA, said Saturday the plane received inconsistent airspeed readings from different instruments as it struggled in a massive thunderstorm.

Related readings:  Bodies of Air France flight victims found  Air France flight pieces still missing  4 travelers missed doomed Air France Flight 447  Brazil recovers 1st Air France jet debris  Air France: No hope of survivors in Atlantic

Flight 447 disappeared in turbulent weather May 31 during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people aboard. The investigation is increasingly focused on whether external instruments may have iced over, confusing speed sensors and leading computers to set the plane's speed too fast or slow — a potentially deadly mistake.

All on board were believed killed in what is the world's worst commercial air accident since 2001, and Air France's deadliest plane crash.

Brazilian officials are working to recover victims and plane wreckage. Finding the plane's black boxes — flight data and voice recorders — which could reveal why the jet crashed is the mission of the French government, with help from the United States.

But the recovery Saturday of the bodies of two male passengers and a briefcase could help establish a more precise search area for the black boxes. Right now, search teams are combing an zone of several hundred square miles (square kilometers) in the ocean.

The US Navy is sending two high-tech devices to French ships to help locate the boxes. The Towed Pinger Locators, which can detect emergency beacons to a depth of 20,000 feet (6,100 meters), are being flown to Brazil on Monday with a US Navy team, a senior US defense official said. The offical spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has not been announced.

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