Brazilian officials say search crews have recovered the bodies of two
men they believe were aboard Air France Flight 447, which crashed into
the Atlantic Ocean Monday.
Brazilian Air Force Colonel Jorge Amaral told reporters the bodies and
some debris believed to be from the airliner were found Saturday in
water northeast of the Fernando de Noronha Islands off Brazil's
northeastern coast.
According to Amaral, searchers found an airliner seat, a briefcase and
other items. He said officials will compare the serial number on the
seat with the numbers of the seats installed in the missing Air France
Airbus 330.
French investigators said Saturday that Airbus, the maker of the downed
plane, had recommended the replacement of some of the speed sensors on
A330 aircraft because of occasional faulty readings. Air France has not
yet acted on the recommendation.
The head of the French agency leading the probe into the crash,
Paul-Louis Arslanian, said he cannot say if the sensor played any role
in the crash of the plane.
Air safety investigators said equipment that sent out automatic signals from the downed jet showed inconsistencies in its speed.
Arslanian says investigators are analyzing 24 error messages sent automatically in the final moments of the flight.
French submarines are expected to arrive off the Brazilian coast next
week to assist in the search for parts of the aircraft. The airliner
was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris when it went down.
Investigators are hoping to find the plane's ("black box") flight data and cockpit voice recorders, which are designed to send out signals for 30 days after an accident.
The recorders would have information from the final minutes of the
flight. The recorders are believed to be sitting on the ocean floor at
depths of at least 3,000 meters.
Flight 447 had 228 people on board.