Brazilian Navy: Only 16 bodies recovered from Air France crash site

• Source: Xinhua
• [09:42 June 09 2009]
• Comments

The Brazilian Navy clarified on Monday that searchers so far have only found and retrieved 16 bodies, not the previously-announced 17, from the Atlantic Ocean near the area where an Air France passenger plane with 228 aboard was believed to have crashed.

The military said on Sunday that a total of 17 bodies had been recovered, but admitted on Monday that there was a miscalculation.

According to Navy Spokesman Gilcemar Tabosa, the mistake was not detected until the French frigate Ventose started to transfer the bodies it had retrieved to a Brazilian ship. The French vessel only collected seven bodies, not eight as previously thought.

Tabosa also denied reports that two more bodies were recovered on Monday morning.

All the bodies recovered are now on the Brazilian Navy frigate Constituicao, which will reach Fernando de Noronha archipelago, the search team's base of operations, on Tuesday.