TWO Brazilian helicopters took off from the islands of Fernando de Noronha to pick up 16 bodies of Air France crash victims, as airline chiefs at a conference insisted the Airbus A330 was one of the safest planes in the world to fly.

Search ships methodically worked through debris from a doomed Air France jet, recovering 15 more bodies near the spot where the Airbus A330 is believed to have gone down a week ago.

AS Brazil and France disagreed last night about whether pieces of a downed Air France jet have been found in the Atlantic, investigators used the last messages from the plane to try to avoid future disasters.

An Amazon river passenger ship crashed into two barges and sank, leaving at least three people dead and dozens missing, authorities said today.