Latest on Air France 447 black box, victim identification, search operation and investigation

The captain and the steward of the flight were identified from among the 51 recovered bodies. The captain was named as Marc Dubois and the steward as Lucas Gagliano.

The Briton was named as Graham Gardner, 52, from Gourock in Inverclyde, Scotland. The identification of Gardner was confirmed by the Scottish company Subsea 7, where Gardner worked.

The role of INTERPOL is expected to be very crucial given that the passengers were from 32 nations. Collecting DNA, fingerprint and dental records across 32 countries is a time consuming and difficult task and can be greatly facilitated by the participation of INTERPOL.

The INTERPOL Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) specialists are working closely with the Brazilian authorities at the National Forensics Institute in Brasilia and contributing, through its international network, in the collection of crucial Ante Mortem data such as dental and medical records, DNA and fingerprints of the victims from their families across the 32 nations.

The Post Mortem data from the remains of the recovered bodies are gathered and examined at the Forensics Medicine Institute in the coastal city of Recife, which is the nearest city from the crash site. The INTERPOL team will assist the Brazilian Federal Police experts who are leading the victim identification process.

Investigation

The investigation into the crash is being carried out by the French organisation Investigation and Analysis Bureau (BEA). The BEA held a major press conference on 17 June when much of the information on the investigation process and status was given.

In the press briefing, the investigators requested for "patience" and expected the process to be slow. The investigators warned that it is "almost certain" that all parts of the flight 447 may not be recovered.

The spokesman further added "our investigation will start in due course to find out the cause of the crash.

"We try to consolidate the data, in a way that will facilitate our task in finding the conclusions and all the details regarding the crash.