RECIFE, Brazil – A Brazilian ship recovered three more bodies from the Atlantic as searchers said weather and currents were making their job increasingly difficult and warned it is unlikely that all the dead from Air France Flight 447 will be found.
Forty-four bodies have now been retrieved from the Airbus 330 that crashed into the sea May 31 en route from Brazil to Paris. Authorities hope identifying the bodies will help them determine whether the plane broke up in midair by allowing them to match seating assignment with location of body recovery.
With rainstorms hitting the search area, Brazilian Air Force Gen. Ramon Cardoso said the aerial search was being hindered by reduced visibility.
Currents that had been carrying bodies and debris toward the West African nation of Senegal were reversing and could bring them closer to Brazilian and French searchers, but the recovery effort covers a vast area, Cardoso said.
"It is becoming more and more difficult to find and recover bodies," he said. "And the chances of recovering the bodies of all the passengers of the Air France flight are very remote."
Brazil's military will decide next week whether to halt the search for bodies on June 19.
An important part of the investigation into the crash relies on a burst of 24 automatic messages the plane sent during its final minutes of flight. They show the autopilot was not on, but it was not clear if it was switched off by the pilots or stopped working due to conflicting airspeed readings.
In comments to French television Thursday, Air France chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said that such messages don't provide information that is "in themselves alarming" and are normally meant for maintenance staff.
"These are messages that aren't destined to be used immediately. They are automatic messages that give indications on repairs that could be necessary when it arrives. They are destined for our maintenance crew," Gourgeon told France-2 TV.
Asked about the lag between the disappearance of the plane from radar and the issuance of an alert that it was lost, he said that planes are not detected in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean after they break off contact with Brazilian controllers and before they re-establish it with controllers in Senegal.
Gourgeon said the alert "was given rather early," and stressed that an even earlier alert "wouldn't have helped us to make more effective searches."
Peter Goelz, former managing director of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, said the evidence uncovered so far pointed to at least a partial midair breakup of the Airbus A330.
Goelz said the bodies found are among the best evidence investigators now have. Flight 447 was packed with 228 people and the passengers were likely in their assigned seats as the jet flew into heavy storms, he said.
"If the victims found in one part of the ocean mostly came from one part of the plane, and the victims in the other area came from another part of the plane, that is really telling you something," he said — perhaps what parts of the plane broke apart in the air.
Coroners in the northeastern coastal city of Recife began examining 16 bodies Thursday, hoping to identify them through DNA and photos. The other bodies would be flown in Friday from the Brazilian islands of Fernando de Noronha, where they were taken by search ships.
Goelz said damage to the larger pieces of debris fished from the ocean can tell experts where the parts of the plane broke apart and perhaps why — by forces in the air or by impact with the sea.
The first bodies found Saturday, six days after the crash, were recovered about 53 miles 85 kilometers from bodies recovered Tuesday, Brazil's military said.
Associated Press writer Marco Sibaja reported this story from Recife and Alan Clendenning from Sao Paulo. AP writers Greg Keller and Emma Vandore in Paris, Stan Lehman in Sao Paulo and Bradley Brooks in Rio de Janeiro contributed to this report.
Dugong 'Wuru' eats from a special lettuce birthday cake during the Sydney Aquarium's 21st birthday celebration. AFP/Greg Wood
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