Bodies found from missing jet

Also among the first items recovered was a seat from the aeroplane with a serial number that matched that of the flight, at 11:14 GMT. The first body was found and retrieved by a navy vessel at 12:10 GMT.

The area where the bodies were recovered is about 1,200km off the coast of Brazil.

Flight AF 447 disappeared from radar en route from Rio de Janiero to Paris on Monday with 228 people on board.

Elizondo said: “Two male bodies have been retrieved. They are now on a navy cutter boat. They are sending two more cutters to the area to search for any more bodies that might be in the general vicinity.

“It will probably be a day until the navy cutter can get back to land.”

The bodies are to be taken to Fernando de Noronha and then on to Recife for identification.

Earlier finds on Thursday had turned out not to be from the plane.

The cause of the crash over the mid-Atlantic on Monday is yet to be identified, although 24 automatic error messages were sent by the aircraft before the crash.

Chris Yates, an aviation analyst, told Al Jazeera that based on the messages it seems there may have been a fault with the speed sensors, but he stressed that it is only a possibility and not yet certain.

“Until we find wreckage and until we can assess that wreckage and hopefully find the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder, everything is in the frame.”