- Title: BRAZIL: Relatives of Air France crash victims hope for answers
- Date: 6th April 2011
- Summary: RECIFE , BRAZIL (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) RESCUE TEAM REMOVING PLANE DEBRIS FROM SHIP FERNANDO DE NORONHA , BRAZIL (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BODIES OF CRASH VICTIMS BEING REMOVED FROM HELICOPTER
- Embargoed: 21st April 2011 11:08
- Keywords:
- Location: Brazil, Brazil
- Country: Brazil
- Topics: Disasters / Accidents / Natural catastrophes
- Reuters ID: LVADJTIQRKEXR8T6AZGLY42EPHGZ
- Aspect Ratio: 4:3
- Story Text: With more wreckage of an Air France plane recovered this week in the Atlantic , the victims' families hope for more answers regarding the causes of the crash that killed 228 people in 2009.
Nelson Marinho, a retired machinery mechanic who transformed his home into a relatives' association, has spent the past two years hoping to bury his son Marcelo, whose body was never recovered.
He and his wife Eva Marinho believe their son's remains might be among those recovered this week during the latest round of searches for the flight recorders of the Airbus 330-230.
A salvage vessel equipped with unmanned submarines are part of the fourth search efforts to find more clues about what caused the Air France flight 447 to plunge into the ocean en route from Rio to Paris.
Marinho said the flight recorders are not vital to naming those responsible for the accident.
"For me the black box is not the key. It has been made clear and obvious that everything that has happened up to now shows the irresponsibility was as much from Air France as it was from the construction of this plane Airbus 330," he said.
Dozens of families have filed wrongful death lawsuits against Airbus and Air France and many are receiving monthly compensations.
Marinho said a court hearing with Brazil 's President Dilma Rousseff and the defense minister will be held next week to push for austerity in the investigations.
"What I hope for and what I am sure will happen is that they will confirm everything we already know -- that there has been irresponsibility involved in the plane's project and from the Air France crew. I have requested a court hearing with Dilma Rousseff, the president, which will take place next week, also with the presence of the defense minister and other government authorities," he said.
France 's BEA accident investigation authority said it had found a large part of the plane's wreckage including the engine and parts of the fuselage which included human remains inside.
Marinho's wife, Eva, said she was praying for one of the bodies to be her son's.
"I hope they find my son's bones. I won't hope for a body because it no longer exists, all that is left is his bone structure, his skeleton. It's really hard to say this, to say this as a mother, but that's all they will recover," she said, holding photos of him.
The discovery of the chunks of the Air France wreckage in a vast search radius of some 10,000 square kilometers, 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 accident has focused on the possible icing up of the aircraft's speed sensors, which seemed to give inconsistent readings before communication was lost. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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