Brazil urged to open criminal probe into Air France crash

Rio de Janeiro: Relatives of Brazilian victims of an Air France crash that killed 228 people asked Brazil to open a criminal investigation into the disaster, parallel to a French investigation.

The investigation should "define penal responsibilities" because Air France ignored "indications of diverse failures" in the aircraft's controls, an association of relatives of the victims said.

Nelson Faria Marinho, the head of the association, complained that the probe was being conducted by France's bureau of accident investigations BEA with no input from the Brazilians.

"We are asking the Brazilian authorities to follow this investigation and open a criminal process because a crime has been committed," he yesterday told Brazilian state news agency.

The Air France Airbus A330 with 216 passengers and 12 crew members aboard plunged into the Atlantic Ocean on the night of May 31 to June 1 while on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. There were 58 Brazilians and 72 French nationals aboard.

After a 26-day search, teams recovered 56 bodies from the Atlantic around 1,450 kilometres off Recife in northeastern Brazil. The aircraft's "black box" voice and data recorders were never recovered.

Bureau Report