OAG Travel News

Brazilian navy divers have begun to recover the wreckage of an Air France jet that went down in the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, reports said today (June 3).

Navy ships are understood to be combing a 5km strip of water, about 745 miles north east of the coastal city of Recife, containing jet fuel, passenger seats and other aircraft wreckage.

The AF A330, flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, is thought to have encountered a severe storm four hours after takeoff. 228 crew and passengers are known to have been onboard when it disappeared from radar.

An armed forces spokesman told Reuters the French army had no doubt the debris was that of the AF A330.

Officials said the hardest task would be finding the black box flight recorder which may now lie as deep as 10 miles down on the ocean floor. It could hold vital clues as to the reasons behind the aircraft failure.

It is unknown why the jet went down but it is thought a lightning strike may have caused a highly unusual electrical failure. But modern aircraft are designed to be resistant to lightning strikes, which are a relatively common occurance.

The wreckage will be taken to a base on the Brazilian archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, 430 miles from the crash site, Reuters reported.

So far no bodies have been recovered.

www.airfrance.com

Source: www.abtn.co.uk report by Andrew Gough