First Air France Bodies Found

FRANCE 24: AFP - Brazil's air force on Saturday recovered two male bodies and debris from an Air France jetliner that came down over the Atlantic nearly a week earlier with 228 people on board, a spokesman said. "We confirm the recovery from the water debris and bodies from the Air France plane," Colonel Jorge Amaral told reporters in the northeastern city of Recife. He said the two bodies, the first recovered from the downed flight, were those of men. A plane seat, a nylon backpack containing a computer, and a leather briefcase with an Air France ticket inside were the first objects plucked from the sea, he said. The discoveries took place 450 kilometers (300 miles) northeast of Brazil's Atlantic archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, itself 370 kilometers from the mainland. Amaral said the blue plane seat has a serial number on it and Air France was checking to confirm that it came from its downed flight 447, which was traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris last Monday, June 1. Amaral said the seat was the first item recovered, at 1114 GMT. The first body was then sighted by a navy vessel at 1210 GMT. It was recovered 20 minuted later by the ship's crew. The last item recovered so far was the backpack, at 1150 GMT, he said. Reply