Part of the tail of the Air France flight 447 has been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, eight days after the plane disappeared from radar screens.

It is hoped analysis of the vertical stabilizer, bearing Air France’s red, white and blue colours, will provide clues as to what became of the plane and its 228 passengers. More bodies have also been recovered from the sea; bringing the total number of corpses found to 24. They will be flown on to Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha islands before being taken to the mainland. Investigators say their best chance of understanding how the tragedy unfolded remains the recovery of the plane’s black boxes. A French nuclear submarine with sophisticated sonar equipment will arrive in the debris zone on Thursday. Church services have continued in Rio from where flight 447 took off, destined for Paris on June 1.More about: Air France, Airbus, Plane crash

Copyright © 2012 euronews