Investigators using DNA to identify French crash victims

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Car Rental News - 16/06/2011

 

French officials are to use the DNA database in a bid to help identify victims of the Air France crash

French officials investigating the crash of an Air France jet two years ago are calling on a Brazilian DNA database in a bid to help identify the recovered remains of people killed when the plane plunged into the Atlantic Ocean. The news was announced yesterday by the head of a victims’ families group.

All of the 228 passengers and crew aboard the Airbus A330 died when it crashed into the ocean off the coast of Brazil in 2009. Air France flight 447 was flying from Rio de Janiero to Paris.

Just two months ago, investigators using remotely-controlled vehicles managed to find and recover the plane’s flight data records, as well as several bodies. A ship carrying parts of the aircraft, as well as the recovered bodies, is due to arrive in Bayonne in France on Thursday.

DNA testing will be used to identify the bodies. Authorities in Brazil compiled a database of DNA to help with the task of identifying the remains of the deceased.

According to Nelson Marinho, father of a man who died on the plane, French authorities agreed to make use of the database created by federal police in Brazil. Mr Marinho is the president of an association representing the families of Brazilian crash victims. According to Mr Marinho, the task of identifying bodies should take two to three months.

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