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Two more grieving families have arrived in France and another is expected today as divers continue a difficult retrieval effort following the Air New Zealand Airbus tragedy.
Winds topping 100km/h and waves reaching 4m high battered rescue crews on the fourth day of the search for the bodies and wreckage on France's Mediterranean coast.
Investigators are still trying to piece together what caused the crash that killed five New Zealanders and the aircraft's two German pilots when it plunged into the sea on Friday.
The turbulent seas and poor visibility are hindering navy divers from retrieving a second black box recorder, located 40m down and in 30cm of mud.
The digital flight data recorder contains the technical records of the craft including speed, altitude and trajectory and will help investigators form an initial picture of what caused the crash. Initial results from the first black box - the voice recorder which registers the conversations in the cockpit - could be available to investigators later today.
The French Navy minesweeper Verseau and the tug boat Ailette spent yesterday trawling the area "in vain," according to L'Independant newspaper.
High winds have tossed up debris from the crash along great swathes of the coastline. It is being sent for analysis by investigators at the Bureau d'Enquates et d'Analyses (BEA) at Le Bourget near Paris.
Two bodies have so far been recovered from the wreckage, and it is hoped staff at the Forensic Research department in Montpellier would soon finish the DNA comparison and autopsies.
The New Zealanders killed in the crash are Captain Brian Horrell, 52, and engineer Murray White, 37, both from Auckland, Christchurch engineer Michael Gyles, 49, engineer Noel Marsh, 35, also from Christchurch, and Civil Aviation Authority airworthiness inspector Jeremy Cook, 58.
A spokesman for XL Airlines - the airline that had leased the plane from Air NZ - last night told the Herald they would not be releasing the names of the two German pilots killed to protect the privacy of family and friends.
Air New Zealand chief executive Rob Fyfe yesterday said two data recorders were still outstanding, containing data from engineers who had serviced the aircraft.
Divers had not been able to reach the cockpit, where they were also hoping to find more bodies.
Mr Fyfe said the investigation had four parts: recovering and identifying the bodies, returning the bodies to family members, the technical investigation to determine if other operators of the A320 need to change their practices or carry out precautionary inspections on components of the aircraft, and a judicial, or police, investigation which would look into the cause of the accident and whether there was any liability involved, and subsequent prosecutions.
