RIO DE JANEIRO — A further 77 bodies from the doomed Rio to Paris Air France flight were recovered in recent weeks from the Atlantic, an association representing the families of Brazilian victims confirmed Tuesday.
France’s BEA aviation safety group informed the relatives late Monday, reported the Correio do Estado newspaper. The association’s president, Nelson Faria Marinho, said they were not told when DNA tests would be carried out to identify the bodies. Relatives remain divided over whether to recover their loved ones or leave them on the seabed.
The remains of 127 passengers and crew have been lifted from the debris of the Airbus 330’s fuselage since it crashed into the ocean around 700 miles off the South American coast on June 1, 2009. The first 50 were recovered within weeks of the disaster. The bodies of 101 people remain to be found.
An interim report from the BEA released last week found that the pilots of the jet fought with the controls for more than four minutes as it plunged into the Atlantic. The BEA found that the pilots were confused by a series of contradictory flight control alarms and invalid speed sensors.
The findings were based on data collected from two flight recorders, or black boxes, recovered in early May from the plane’s seabed wreckage at a depth of 12,700 feet using a robot submarine.
Both Airbus and Air France are being probed for manslaughter in the case. A further interim report is due by the end of July. The date of the final report is unclear.