Brazil orders Air France to pay compensation to crash victim

A Rio de Janeiro State Judge Thursday ordered Air France to pay $1.15 million (£763,000) in compensation to the family of a state official who died in the 2009 crash of an Air France passenger jet into the Atlantic.

Marcelle Valpacos Fonseca, the former state Attorney General, perished along with 227 other passengers and crew of the Airbus A330 that crashed en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1.

Searches in the weeks following the crash ended without retrieving the black box flight recorders that could shed light on what caused the accident.

France’s air accident investigation agency BEA has decided to resume the search by boat. “It is relevant to note that the loss of a daughter and sister at the very start of adulthood, when the family would have had the chance of observing and accompanying the development of a new family and career, represents an irreparable loss,” the judge said in his ruling. He said the Airbus crash, beside being Brazil’s worse air tragedy, was caused by “negligent conduct” by Air France.

The BEA said in earlier reports that the jet’s airspeed probes gave false readings before it crashed into the ocean but that they were not the sole cause of the accident. Controllers on the ground received a string of automated error messages from the aircraft before it plunged into the ocean. Air speed probes are known to ice up at high altitude and many airlines have installed newer models since the crash following warnings from safety bodies that the type used on flight AF447 were prone to error.

Many other families of the victims of the Airbus tragedy have sued for compensation. Eight of them filed lawsuits in November in two US states.