Searchers recover more bodies from jet crash area

RECIFE(BRAZIL): Brazilian and French search crews recovered another 13 bodies on Tuesday from a spot in the Atlantic where an Air France jet came down over a week ago, Brazilian officials said.

A total of 41 bodies have so far been recovered from the zone 1,100 kilometers (700 miles) off Brazil's northeast coast, the head of Brazilian air traffic control, Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Cardoso, told reporters.

The previous total count, given earlier Tuesday, was 28 bodies.

The Air France Airbus A330 was carrying 228 passengers and crew when it plunged into the sea on June 1, four hours into its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Sixteen of the bodies were on Tuesday taken to the nearest point, Brazil's archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, and the other 25 were on their way there, Cardoso said.

After being inspected, photographed and catalogued on those islands, they were to be flown to the mainland coastal city of Recife for identification by forensic teams.

Brazilian and French officials are using DNA samples from relatives and dental records to identify the remains.

Brazilian navy ships and a French frigate were to continue to scour the crash zone for more bodies and debris.

On Monday, a Brazilian crew recovered the tail fin from the plane -- considered significant because it could narrow the area underwater where the black boxes are. Those devices were mounted in the rear section of the aircraft.

A French military nuclear submarine was expected to arrive in the area on Wednesday to hunt for those flight data and voice recorders. The US military has lent two Pinger Locators to help with the search.

If their signals are found, deep-sea research subs being carried on a French ship arriving on Thursday will be deployed to recover them.

The cause of the disaster is not known, but initial suspicions are focusing on the plane's airspeed sensors which were giving faulty readings, according to automatic data alerts sent by the plane in its final minutes in the air.