PERPIGNAN, France – Search teams found a third body Monday following the crash of an Airbus A320 passenger jet off France's southern coast, bringing the official death toll to three with four others missing and feared dead, a French official said.
Divers pulled the remains from the Mediterranean about midday Monday while searching for wreckage from the jet, state prosecutor Jean-Pierre Dreno said in the southern city of Perpignan near the border with Spain. The plane was on a maintenance flight when it plunged into the sea Thursday.
French authorities on Monday opened a preliminary probe into manslaughter.
The plane had been leased to charter airline XL Airways Germany and was on the maintenance flight before being returned to Air New Zealand.
The crew included two German pilots, and a pilot and three engineers from Air New Zealand, plus an aircraft inspector from the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority.
Air New Zealand said in a statement the two flight recorders recovered from the crash site over the weekend were so badly damaged they must be sent to the manufacturer, Honeywell, in the United States to see if any data can be extracted.
