The ocean location of the Air France plane crash victims could provide answers to whether the doomed jet broke up in the air, experts said.
A Brazilian ship picked up three more bodies, raising the number recovered to 44, Brazilian Air Force general Ramon Cardoso said.
But the search was hindered by rainstorms and bodies and debris were dispersed by currents, Gen Cardoso said.
The Atlantic currents that had been taking bodies and debris toward the West African nation of Senegal were reversing and could bring them closer to Brazilian and French searchers, but the recovery effort covered a vast area, Gen Cardoso said.
“It is becoming more and more difficult to find and recover bodies,” he said, 11 days after the May 31st crash hundreds of miles off Brazil’s coast.
“And the chances of recovering the bodies of all the passengers of the Air France flight are very remote.”
Peter Goelz, former managing director of the US National Transportation Safety Board, said the evidence uncovered so far pointed to at least a partial mid-air break up of the Airbus A330.
He said the bodies found were among the best evidence investigators had.
Flight 447 was packed with 228 people and the passengers were probably in their assigned seats as the jet flew into heavy storms, he said.
“If the victims found in one part of the ocean mostly came from one part of the plane, and the victims in the other area came from another part of the plane, that is really telling you something,” Mr Goelz said.
Debris that may be part of the plane's wing is on its way to Recife, on Brazil's northeast coast, which may give investigators a clue to the altitudes they should focus on, Gen Cardoso said.
"The weather has not been favourable in the area of the search," he said. "We have not spotted any bodies today, only debris."
Coroners in Brazil's north-eastern coastal city of Recife began examining 16 bodies yesterday, hoping to identify them through DNA and photos.
The other bodies will be flown in today from the Brazilian islands of Fernando de Noronha, where they were taken by search ships.
Identification of injuries suffered by passengers will also help investigators.
AP