Relatives of victims waiting for explanation of tragedy

2009-06-03 19:15 BJT

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Special Report: Air France jet vanishes |

With its wreckage now discovered, there is no question about the fate of the vanished Air France plane. The news leaves relatives of the passengers grieving and questioning what actually caused the tragedy. An explanation may have to wait since the so-called "black box" will be hard to find.

When the 216 passengers from 32 countries took off from the Rio Jadenario Airport, few of them, if any, could have imagined it was their last few hours in this world.

Nor could their family and friends.

Arthur Coakley is an engineer for a British oil company and was helping with a land survey in Brazil. He was booked on an earlier flight, but was bumped onto the doomed jet after his first flight was full.

His wife tried to call her husband's cellphone. On Monday, the phone was still on.

Patricia Coakley, wife of Arthur Coakley, said, "I haven't tried it today, but yesterday it was ringing so maybe they're not at the bottom of the sea. That's my hope, but I think it's maybe fading today."

Irish dancer Eithne Walls is also believed to be one of the missing passengers. Her friend Aine Rooney has performed alongside her for 10 years as part of a world famous troupe.

French pilot Lieutenant Jean-Noel Herbette speaks to journalists at France's air base in Dakar, Senegal, as he returns from a mission seeking the site of the crash of a missing Air France flight Tuesday, June 2, 2009. France has three military patrol aircraft flying over the central Atlantic from their base in Senegal and it is sending an AWACS radar plane that should join the operation on Wednesday, said French military spokesman Christophe Prazuck. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
A Brazilian couple, relatives of a passenger
onboard ill-fated Air France flight AF447,
leave a hotel after being informed about the
accident in Rio de Janiero.AFP/Antonio Scorza)