No new clues on causes of Air France crash

PARIS, June 17, 2009 (Reuters) — French investigators have no further clues on what caused the crash of an Air France jetliner in the Atlantic two weeks ago, the head of France's investigation agency said on Wednesday.

Debris of the missing Air France flight 447, recovered from the Atlantic Ocean, arrives at Recife's port June 14, 2009. An Air France Airbus 330 crashed into the sea on June 1 en route from Brazil to Paris, killing all 228 aboard. REUTERS/JC Imagem/Alexandre Severo

More information might be available in the coming days, Paul-Louis Arslanian told reporters, urging the public to show "a lot of patience" while the search for wreckage and bodies continued in the Atlantic Ocean.

He was speaking at a news conference on the search efforts and what investigators called "unfavorable conditions" in the remote area of ocean where the Airbus A330 crashed en route from Brazil to Paris on June 1.

The investigation agency has so far said data transmitted from the plane before it crashed indicated unreliable speed readings from the aircraft's sensors, but that it was too early to say whether this contributed to the accident.

All 228 people on board the plane died in the crash, making it the worst disaster in the history of Air France.

(Reporting by Tim Hepher; editing by Crispian Balmer)