Wreckage and bodies from a 2009 Air France crash in which three young Irish women died have been located in the Atlantic Ocean, the French government confirmed today.
Air France flight 447, an Airbus 330-203 plane, plunged into the ocean en route from Rio to Paris on May 31st, 2009, killing all 228 passengers and crew on board. A long search has so far failed to find flight recorders that could give clues to the cause of the incident.
The body of Dr Jane Deasy (27), from Rathgar in Dublin, was recovered during the search operation.
Dr Aisling Butler (26) of Roscrea, Co Tipperary, and Dr Eithne Walls (28), from Ballygowan, Co Down, also died in the crash. Their bodies have not yet been found. The three friends were returning from a holiday in Brazil when the aircraft went missing.
The latest search, the fourth since the crash, is being carried out using a salvage vessel equipped with unmanned submarines. An initial underwater search had also found parts of wreckage and bodies.
France's BEA accident investigation authority said yesterday it had found a large part of the plane's wreckage including the engine and parts of the fuselage, and environment minister Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet said today there were human remains inside.
"We have more than just traces, we have bodies . . . identification is possible," she told France Inter radio.
Transport minister Thierry Mariani said victims' families would be informed of the findings at a meeting at the end of the week and no further details would be made public before then.
The discovery of the chunks of the Air France wreckage in a vast search radius of some 10,000 sq km, has raised hopes that the aircraft's flight recorders, or black boxes, might now be found.
The aircraft vanished after hitting stormy weather over the Atlantic a few hours into the flight. Speculation about what caused the crash has focused on the possible icing up of the aircraft's speed sensors, which seemed to give inconsistent readings before communication was lost.
Reuters