Body recovered from sunken wreckage of Air France Airbus

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

The first body to be recovered from the sunken wreckage of Air France Airbus that crashed in June 2009 en route from Rio to Paris has been retrieved from the bottom of the Atlantic, still strapped to a seat.

French gendarmes said the partially decomposed remains had lain at a depth of almost 2.5 miles since flight 447 went down on 1 June, 2009. The body, brought to the surface by mini-submarines, will now be DNA tested before being taken to France.

Rescuers said the search, using sea robots to recover bodies from the ocean off Brazil, is complex and "unprecedented". Experts said that the cold and lack of oxygen at that depth could mean bodies were comparatively well preserved. But they could rapidly decompose on being moved through warmer surface waters and into the air.

In the days after the crash about 50 bodies and parts of the plane were pulled from the sea by the Brazilian navy, but after that nothing was found for almost two years.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/may/05/body-recovered-french-airbus-atlantic

[hlthe2b]

1. Geez... I sort of think I'd want them to remain there...

If I were a family member....

[Blue_Tires]

2. depends on family tradition...

some want remains to come home...

Either way, the BEA needs to pull up from the bottom every piece of metal to re-construct the airframe...

[kestrel91316]

3. Maybe France has its own version of "deathers" and conspiracy theorists

who DO NOT BELIEVE the official story or that their loved ones are even dead??

[closeupready]

5. Personally, I'd want the remains brought back for a proper burial.

Think about it like this: if you had been a passenger and were the one whose remains had been found, wouldn't you prefer to be buried in a quiet cemetery with flowers and trees and sunshine, rather than be left to be nibbled away in the cold, dark depths of the ocean?

[ret5hd]

6. mmmm...at that point i don't think i'd care one way or the other.

[hlthe2b]

7. I think within the first several months, yes...

Now, it feels more like exhuming bodies from the Titanic... Not meaning to be crude. Nonetheless, if they are going to bring up all the wreckage, I guess they certainly should bring up the bodies.

[a la izquierda]

8. 6 in one, half-dozen in the other.

Either way, you're dead, no?
Personally, when I die, put me in a crematorium and spread my ashes over Palenque or Tikal or something.

[closeupready]

9. Yes, obviously, if we have spirits, they don't reside with the body after death.

But I wouldn't want a loved one's remains to stay separated from me if I could help it, and conversely, with my own. Anyway, that's probably just my hang-up.

[a la izquierda]

10. Well, I don't think it's just you're hang-up.

I have the cremains of three of my dogs and one cat in my house. I'm waiting until I buy a home to bury them in a garden. So I understand, in a way.

[FLPanhandle]

11. If buried in a cemetary, they'd be nibbled away in the cold dark ground

Bodies are just meat for animals and bacteria.

[Myrina]

4. This is terribly sad ...

... I can't imagine being a relative and hearing this, and the horror of thinking (what's left of) someone I loved/cared about was trapped dead 2.5 miles under water for 2 years ...

:scared: :(