RECIFE, BRAZIL – Brazilian divers found a large tail section from an Air France jet on Monday, one of the biggest pieces yet recovered from wreckage that is helping narrow the search for Flight 447′s black boxes. A U.S. Navy team is bringing in high-tech underwater listening devices to detect pings from the data and voice recorders.
Brazilian and French military ships that have so far recovered 16 bodies and large amounts of plane wreckage searched amid a sea of floating debris, finding the tail section with Air France’s trademark red and blue stripes.
Brazilian military officials reduced the number of recovered bodies from the 17 announced Sunday, saying there had been a counting error.
What caused the Airbus A330 to crash May 31 with 228 people on board will remain a mystery unless searchers can locate the plane’s black box flight data and voice recorders, likely buried deep in the middle of the ocean.
Two U.S. Navy devices that can detect emergency beacons to a depth of 20,000 feet (6,100 meters) are being flown to Brazil with a Navy team, according to the Pentagon. They will be delivered to ships that will then listen for transmissions from the black boxes, which are programmed to emit signals for at least 30 days.
Sixteen bodies were recovered Saturday and Sunday about 70 kilometres from where the jet sent out messages signalling electrical failures and loss of cabin pressure.
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