Brazil officials identify 21 more victims of Air France crash

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 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.

July 18th, 2009 Guyana finds possible debris from Air France crashGEORGETOWN, Guyana — A fisherman in Guyana apparently has found a large piece of a plane that authorities suspect might belong to the Air France jet that crashed in the Atlantic Ocean, an aviation official said Saturday. The 30-foot-long piece of what appears to be aircraft fuselage washed up on a beach in the South American country this week, said Paula McAdam, deputy director of Guyana's Civil Aviation Authority.

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 3rd, 2009 Brazil: Senegal took control of doomed flightBRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil's air force has released a recording it says proves it handed over control of Air France Flight 447 to Senegalese authorities before it crashed. The audio has been posted on the air force Web site after a French official said air traffic controllers in Dakar, Senegal, never officially took control of the flight.

June 27th, 2009 RIO DE JANEIRO - The Brazilian air force and navy have ended their search for survivors of Air France flight that crashed into the Atlantic nearly four weeks ago, officials announced Saturday. "The mission has been stopped, because it has become impossible to find bodies or debris in the search area," said Lt.

June 22nd, 2009 Officials: 10 bodies from jet crash are BrazilianSAO PAULO — Ten of 50 bodies recovered from the Air France flight that plunged into the Atlantic three weeks ago have been identified as Brazilians, medical examiners said. Five of the first 11 bodies to be identified were Brazilian men, five were Brazilian women and one was a "foreigner of the male sex," the Public Safety Department of the northeastern state of Pernambuco said in a statement Sunday.

June 22nd, 2009 Brazil identifies 11 bodies from Air France jetSAO PAULO — Medical examiners have identified the first 11 of 50 bodies recovered from the Air France flight that plunged into the Atlantic three weeks ago, officials said Sunday. Five bodies were identified as Brazilian men, five as Brazilian women and one as a "foreigner of the male sex," the Public Safety Department of the northeastern state of Pernambuco said in a statement.

June 22nd, 2009 SAO PAOLO - Brazilian authorities have identified 11 victims, three weeks after an Air France jet carrying 228 people crashed on its way to France, a news report said. The forensics department in the port town Recife identified 10 Brazilians, among them five women, and one foreigner, whose bodies were among the 50 recovered after the Airbus A330 crashed June 1 off Brazil's coast.

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 19th, 2009 Air France to give crash victims euro17,500 advancePARIS — Air France said Friday it would give about euro17,500 ($24,000) as an advance to the families of the victims of the crash of Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Remains of some of the 228 dead, and hundreds of pieces of wreckage reclaimed from the sea off Brazil are helping experts build a picture of what happened to the A330.

June 19th, 2009 Air France to give crash victims €17,500 advancePARIS — Air France said Friday it would give about €17,500 ($24,000) as an advance to the families of the victims of the crash of Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Remains of some of the 228 dead, and hundreds of pieces of wreckage reclaimed from the sea off Brazil are helping experts build a picture of what happened to the A330.

June 11th, 2009 RIO DE JANEIRO - Thirteen more bodies have been recovered from an area in the Atlantic Ocean where a France jet crashed last week, bringing the total number of bodies found to 41, officials said. The Brazilian Air Force said 41 bodies have been recovered from the crash site so far, including 13 bodies found Tuesday.

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.