Controversy over the Air France wreckage

Two years ago an Air France jet disappeared during high-altitude thunderstorms near the equator over the Atlantic Ocean on its way to Paris from Rio de Janeiro. Of the 228 passengers and crew on board there were only 50 bodies found. There have been considerable amount of effort put into finding the wreckage so as to find the remaining black boxes to discover what went wrong with the Flight 447. In March 2011, two years and 4 attempts later, the wreckage has been found along with some of the dead. Fortunately for recovery purposes it has been found in a flat section of the ocean not the previously believed mountainous terrain that is common of the area.

The controversy now is the process of retrieving the bodies from their watery grave. Within the past week two bodies have been recovered. One body was still attached to its seat. The controversy is over whether or not to retrieve the bodies at all. For the technical side of the issue it is a long, hard and pricey project to retrieve the unknown amounts of body from under water, but on the other hand many feel that they have a moral obligation to make the effort. For the family and friends of the victims there is another split. Some are worried about the damage that the bodies will incur when being retrieved by robots and feel that there is greater dignity in their death if they are left in the water where they died. For others, who had previously accepted the fact that their loved ones would never be found, are taking comfort in the fact that they are now able to bury their loved ones nearby.

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-05-10-air-france-bodies-recovery_n.htm