11 victims of Air France crash identified

August 31st, 2009 Air France crash inquiry could take more than yearPARIS — The director of the French agency investigating the crash of Air France Flight 447 says the probe could take a year and a half. BEA director Paul-Louis Arslanian says he still doesn't know exactly where the plane went down, three months after the Rio to Paris flight crashed into the Atlantic killing all 228 people aboard.

August 27th, 2009 Brazilians want investigation of Air France crashSAO PAULO — Relatives of Brazilian passengers who perished on an Air France jetliner that crashed over the Atlantic Ocean are demanding a criminal investigation. Government news service Agencia Brasil says the association representing the victims' relatives filed a petition with the federal attorney general's office requesting "an investigation against the possible culprits of the accident." Air France Flight 447 crashed June 1 en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, killing all 228 people on board.

August 21st, 2009 Air France sued over plane crash investigationPARIS — A lawyer says the family of a French flight attendant who perished in an Air France plane crash on June 1 over the Atlantic Ocean is suing the airline to force it to release information on what caused the tragedy. The Airbus jet went down while flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

August 14th, 2009 Brazil identifies last body in Air France crashSAO PAULO — Brazilian authorities say they have used DNA to identify the last body found from the Air France jet crash in the mid-Atlantic that killed 228 people. Officials say the 50th body recovered was that of a non-Brazilian man, but they have not revealed his nationality or his identity.

August 6th, 2009 NY crash victims' kin to campaign vs DWIYONKERS, N.Y. — The family of two men killed in the "wrong-way crash" on New York's Taconic State Parkway say they'll use the tragedy to campaign against drunken driving.

July 9th, 2009 Remains of Flight 447 en route to France for probePARIS — More than 600 pieces of Air France Flight 447 are being sent from Brazil to France by ship to be studied further for clues into the June 1 crash, Airbus said Thursday. The disaster overshadowed a meeting of Air France-KLM shareholders on Thursday, with pilots saying the company didn't do enough to prevent the plane from crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.

July 4th, 2009 Correction: France-Crash Investigation storyLE BOURGET, France — In a July 2 story about the probe into the crash of Air France flight 447, The Associated Press erroneously quoted Charles-Henri Tardivat, a lawyer for the victims' families, as saying the phase of grief had passed. Tardivat said families "started concentrating on their families, their grief, and how to be able to put a close on at least that part of their life" once they realized how little was available from the investigation.

July 1st, 2009 21 more victims of Air France crash identifiedRIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian officials say they've identified the remains of 21 more people who were aboard an Air France jet when it plunged into the Atlantic Ocean last month. Authorities say 17 newly identified victims were foreign and four were Brazilian.

June 25th, 2009 Air France: Flight 447 pilot's body retrievedPARIS — Search crews in the mid-Atlantic have retrieved the bodies of the chief pilot of Flight 447 and a flight attendant, Air France said Thursday. The two are among 50 bodies pulled out of the ocean in the international search for remains of the 228 victims and wreckage of the May 31 crash.

June 25th, 2009 PARIS - Authorities have identified the body of the chief pilot of the Air France aircraft that plunged into the Atlantic June 1 with 228 people aboard, the airline said on its web site Thursday. "Among the victims found in the sea search, two members of the Air France crew have been identified: the flight captain and a steward," Air France said.

June 23rd, 2009 Obama offers prayers for victims of commuter crashWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says the thoughts and prayers of the first family go out to the victims of the commuter train crash in Washington, D.C., that killed six people and injured scores of others. Obama issued a statement Monday night thanking rescue personnel who helped to save lives.

June 23rd, 2009 5 of those killed in DC metro crash identifiedWASHINGTON — Officials are identifying five of the victims killed in a subway train crash in Washington, D.C. Metro officials said at a special board meeting Tuesday that four passengers ranging in age from 23 to 64 were killed when a train barreling down the tracks hit a stopped train a day earlier.

June 19th, 2009 Air France crash families to get 1st compensationPARIS — Air France focused on aiding families of victims from the crash of Flight 447, offering a first advance on compensation on Friday while investigators worked quietly to solve the mystery of what brought the jet down. The top European air safety agency said, meanwhile, there was not yet enough evidence to issue a mandatory recall of an external air speed monitor suspected of contributing to the disaster.

June 9th, 2009 LYON - The Interpol said Tuesday it would aid in coordinating international efforts to identify the 228 victims of the June 1 crash of an Air France plane in the Atlantic. An officer from Interpol's Command and Coordination Centre in the French city of Lyon has been deployed to the crisis centre in Paris where forensic efforts will be carried out to identify the victims.

June 9th, 2009 union: All Air France jets have new speed monitorsPARIS — A spokesman for a pilots' union says all Air France jets taking off now have been equipped with two new-generation speed sensors. The so-called Pitot tubes on the outside of an aircaft are under suspicion in the crash of Air France Flight 447 into the Atlantic Ocean.