Air France crash: Terrorism possibility gains ground

Brazilian and French search crews have recovered another 13 bodies from the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Brazil where Air France Flight 447 with 228 passengers and crew aboard, came down over a week ago. Airbus 330-200 crashed en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on 31 May and while investigators are certain the aircraft suffered multiple computer malfunctions, officials have not ruled out terrorism.

While early speculation centered around a lightening strike and then extreme turbulence as a result of massive thunderstorms in the aircraft's flight path, and then later the plane's air speed indicators called pitot tubes, the French secret service has now established that two passengers had names that appear on classified French documents listing people suspected to be security threats.

Agents are trying to confirm the dates of birth and family connections of the two passengers. A source in the security service said it was possible the name similarities were a "macabre coincidence", according to a report in the Telegraph.

A total of 41 bodies have so far been recovered from the area over 1,000 kms off Brazil's northeast coast, according to wire reports.

Brazilian navy ships and a French frigate are continuing to scour the crash zone for more bodies and debris and the French nuclear-powered submarine Emeraude equipped with advanced sonar equipment has arrived to begin searching for the "black box" voice and data recorders which authorities fear could be lying in water as deep as 450 metres.

The US has also sent to sophisticated sonar devices which will be towed by ships in a grid pattern to try and pick up the black box's pings which will only remain active for 30 days.