On 1 June the Air France flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, on its way from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all of the 228 passengers and crew onboard.
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Following the crash the Brazilian military launched one of the largest and complex maritime search and rescue operation in its history.
Despite the massive search operation organised for the recovery of the human remains and the black box, only 51 bodies have been recovered and the black box is still unaccounted for. The search for the remaining bodies has been called off by the Brazilian military.
The major follow up operations underway in the aftermath of the crash were the search for bodies, search for black box, identification of the bodies and official investigation into the accident.
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Search for human remains
The search and recovery of passenger bodies led to 51 bodies being recovered from the Atlantic Ocean. The last of the bodies was retrieved on 17 June and the search for the human remains was eventually called off on 26 June after nine days of fruitless search.
Earlier, fears were raised whether all of the passenger's bodies can be recovered from a disaster of such magnitude and it is likely that the remaining 177 human remains may never be recovered.
Speaking to the press in the city of Recife, Brazilian air force Col. Henry Munhoz called this the most complex and largest search and rescue mission over sea the Brazilian military has ever embarked on and said, "The technical reason for calling off the search was the impossibility of locating more bodies, which was the main objective of the operation."
"Despite our desire to recover the 228 people, we are fully confident that the navy and air force did the best they could," Munhoz said in the press conference.
Hunt for the black boxes
The black box plays a crucial role in helping the investigators understand the cause of the crash. The investigation team will be severely handicapped in putting together the cause of the crash without the black boxes.
The search for the black box is spearheaded by the French submarine Emaraude and boats equipped with a powerful underwater listening device supplied by the U.S. Navy.
The black box is thought to have sunk to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. The black box emits locator signals called "pinger" that allow search team to locate the device undersea. The box contains a battery which is designed to last for 30 days, after which the "pinger" signal starts to fade away.
Despite the 30 day period being almost over, the search is expected to continue well over the 30 day mark. The French agency leading the investigation has said that the search efforts will continue as long as it seems reasonable.
"We'll have a better idea July 1 on how much longer we'll go," AP quoted the U.S. Air Force Col. Willie Berges, who is commander of the American military forces supporting the search for the black box.
The flight recorder of a South African plane that crashed into the Indian Ocean was retrieved after 14 months from depths of over 4,000 meters.
Identification of recovered bodies
The identification of the recovered bodies is carried out by the Brazilian authorities with the help of INTERPOL, the world's largest police organisation.
The joint effort has led to the identification of 11 victims so far. The nationalities of the victims were announced as 10 Brazilians and one British. Among the 10 Brazilians, two are dual nationals of Germany and Swiss.
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.
"All this data is a way of reaching the right conclusion and not just speculations. We have elements and we are studying and analysing them and we are reaching the right conclusions.
"Having said that all we have found, we have to take it with bit of caution and that is why patience is called for."
The next major press briefing is scheduled for 2 July.
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