Brazilian and French vessels searching the area where an Air France plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean a week ago have pulled more bodies from the water, bringing the total to 17, officials said.

Air France Flight 447 ran into difficulties on June 1 around four hours after leaving Rio de Janeiro for Paris. All the 228 passengers and crew on board are presumed to have died in the accident, making it the worst in the airline`s 75-year history, and the world`s worst for almost a decade.

Media reports said 15 bodies were recovered on Sunday, and that more bodies had been sighted in the wreckage zone, around 900 kilometers from the Fernando de Noronha archipelago northeast of Brazil and approximately 70 kilometers from the plane`s location when its last message was sent.

The recovered bodies are being taken to the Brazilian island group before being transferred to the mainland.
sections: World News