2009 Air France crash victim pulled from ocean
This June 11, 2009, photo shows the dead recovered at that time being taken away after Air France crashed.
May 5th, 2011
07:05 AM ET

2009 Air France crash victim pulled from ocean

The body of one of the victims of Air France Flight 447 was recovered from deep in the Atlantic Ocean, French authorities said Thursday. Even though the body had been submerged for two years, authorities were able to locate it. It was still attached to the seat of the Air France plane, the French Foreign Ministry said.

The announcement comes days after the cockpit voice recorder from the flight was located. The Air France plane crashed mysteriously nearly two years ago, killing all 228 people on board. The plane crashed in stormy weather en route to Paris from Brazil on June 1, 2009. It took nearly two years and a massive undersea search to locate the bulk of the wreckage.

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Filed under: Air travel • Brazil • France
soundoff (14 Responses)
  1. Joey

    My first reaction was, "why?"
    It seems to be a tremendous expense for a body already "buried" at sea.
    After considering, "what if had been a loved one of mine," it seems right, in spite of the good that money could have done for living, hungry children.

    May 5, 2011 at 7:44 am | Report abuse |
    • JW

      Why? Because some people want closure and it's their right to want to pay their last respect, to see their dead one more time even if that person's body was submerged for two years.

      May 16, 2011 at 9:37 am | Report abuse |
  2. jose

    Wow great job recovering the body for the family of this person god bless...

    May 5, 2011 at 7:46 am | Report abuse |
  3. Joey

    The most important result of this recovery effort will be possibly increased future airline safety for the living.
    I want to be cremated: use the money for life.

    May 5, 2011 at 7:55 am | Report abuse |
    • alumette

      well said.

      May 7, 2011 at 12:16 pm | Report abuse |
  4. banasy

    Perhaps the families want closure. I know I would. I don't think it's such a bad thing, necessarily, if the French public is not the one footing the bill.

    I, too, am choosing cremation. And my mother and I disagree all the time about her desire to "leave me some money"! Spend it on yourself, Mom. Or donate it to a charity.

    May 5, 2011 at 8:42 am | Report abuse |
  5. leeintulsa

    I thought alot of the victim's families already 'closed' and didn't want their loved ones brought up. Are they gonna ask and check IDs on the victims before bringing them up?

    May 5, 2011 at 9:06 am | Report abuse |
  6. Indra-Alexis

    It is truly amazing though seems insane there is anything left of a body that's been in the ocean depths for 2 years. In an article on AOL about this story they mentioned testing for an usable DNA to hopefully ID the body. I rather know what was on that flight recorder as to why the plane went down in the first place.

    May 5, 2011 at 9:19 am | Report abuse |
  7. besswest

    Gross

    May 5, 2011 at 9:38 am | Report abuse |
  8. Riff*Raff

    That is an amazing recovery. Do they keep doing recovery for bodies now or simply move forward with the investigation? Perhaps they should leave the body unidentified and allow this 'person' to represent all victims of this tragedy. That way no victim will be recognized more than another.

    May 5, 2011 at 11:30 am | Report abuse |
  9. kim

    Sad but I would also want to recover my loved one that died on a trip they where not aware that day of the flight it would be there last plane ride. How many other face this possibility when they board a plane I sure they would want the respect of a burial. So sad...

    May 5, 2011 at 6:40 pm | Report abuse |
  10. Mr.Krabs

    the french hate krabby patties.

    May 6, 2011 at 2:45 am | Report abuse |
  11. Simcha

    Just like the Israeli astronaut that was killed in the latest shuttle desaster, according to Jewish law, a burial cannot be completed without the ramins of the body. Just think if anay of the passengers were Jewish... or any other religion that requires the remains to be buried-and not necessarily at sea

    May 11, 2011 at 6:05 pm | Report abuse |
  12. Awnry

    get a load of there faces, like the smell was almost unbariable.

    May 13, 2011 at 9:28 pm | Report abuse |
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