Search Crews Find Bodies From Air France Flight 447
June 6, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
Update: The Brazilian Air Force has recovered the first two bodies from the Air France crash, the BBC reports. They also found a suitcase and a backback with a laptop inside. “We confirm the recovery from the water debris and bodies from the Air France plane,” an air force spokesman said. “We can’t give more information without confirming what we have.” The remains were recovered this morning, and experts are on their way to investigate.
The remains were taken from the water at 0814 Brazilian time (1114 GMT), said spokesman Jorge Amaral.
Experts on human remains are on their way to examine the find.
All 228 passengers and crew on board AF 447 are believed to have been killed when the plane disappeared during its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
Developing…
Flight 447 – Brazil Says Recovered Debris Not From Jet
June 5, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
The French government expressed deep disappointment Friday over the news that ocean debris recovered by the Brazilian military this week appeared to be the remains of a shipwreck and not from an Air France jet that crashed in the South Atlantic on Monday.
The revelation came as Airbus, the manufacturer of the missing jet, issued a warning on Thursday to all its customers to follow established procedures when pilots suspect airspeed indicators are not functioning properly. The bulletin appeared to be the first hint that malfunctioning instruments indicators might have played an important role in the crash.
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“French authorities have been saying for several days that we have to be extremely prudent. Our planes and naval ships have seen nothing.”
He said it was “bad news” that the Brazilian teams had been mistaken. “We would have preferred that it had come from the plane and that we had some information.”
Air France Jet Carrying 228 Missing Over Atlantic Ocean
June 1, 2009 by national
Filed under Incident Reports
An Air France jet carrying 228 people from Rio de Janeiro to Paris lost contact with air traffic controllers after flying into a strong thunderstorm over the Atlantic Ocean and signaling it had an electric problem.
Air France Flight 447, an Airbus A330, was carrying 216 passengers and 12 crew members, company spokeswoman Brigitte Barrand said. The flight left Rio on Sunday at 7 p.m. local time.
About four hours later, the plane sent an automatic signal indicating electrical problems while going through strong turbulence, Air France said.
The plane disappeared about 190 miles northeast of the coastal Brazilian city of Natal, near the archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, a Brazilian air force spokesman said. The air force began a search Monday morning near Fernando de Noronha, he added, speaking on condition of anonymity in keeping with air force policy.
Brazil Detains Al Qaeda Suspect Who Ran Anti-American Web Site
Brazilian authorities detained an Arab who ran a Web site forum that could be linked to terrorists and included anti-American statements in Arabic, a prosecutor said Tuesday night.
The Arab resident of Brazil was not identified and a court ordered his release after police investigated, federal prosecutor Ana Leticia Absy said in a statement.
Absy said Brazil police were alerted to the presence of the closed Web site by the FBI, obtained judicial permission to investigate it and concluded it could be connected “to a terrorist group.”
But Absy stressed in a statement that no evidence has been uncovered suggesting the moderator was actually a member of a terrorist group.
The statement was issued after a columnist for the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper reported Tuesday that the man was suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda. Prior to the statement’s release, a federal police spokeswoman confirmed for The Associated Press that the man was suspected of being a key player in Al Qaeda’s international communications. She spoke on condition of anonymity, in keeping with department policy.
