Arusha, July 09: Two more bodies were recovered in Tanzania as the French navy arrived Thursday to assist with the search for wreckage and remains from a plane that crashed into the Indian Ocean with 153 people aboard.
Only one person, a 12-year-old girl, survived the June 30 crash of Yemenia Airways Flight 626 off the coast of Comoros. Strong ocean currents are believed to have carried debris from the plane and some bodies over 500 miles (800 kilometers) northwest to the shores of Tanzania.
Manzie Mangochie, the district commissioner for Tanzania’s Mafia Island, said the French navy arrived with inflatable boats and a helicopter to help with the search.
Thirteen bodies had been recovered in Tanzania by Wednesday, along with debris though to be from an Airbus plane, but the bodies have not been formally identified.
A French official said two more bodies were found Thursday in Tanzania and would be recovered by the French frigate Floreal. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the press by name.
The French are assisting Tanzanian officials with record keeping and identification of the bodies.
Teams from the French aviation investigation agency BEA and the French navy are also still coordinating the search for the plane’s black boxes off the Comoran coast.
Investigators have reportedly concluded that the black boxes — the plane’s cockpit voice and flight data recorders — lie in waters too deep for divers. They are awaiting specialized robots that can operate underwater, which are due to arrive Sunday in the Comoros.
The flight originated in Paris and headed to the Comoros via Yemen.
—-Agencies