The Brazilian Army's Black Hawk helicopter touched down on the island of Fernando de Noronha.
On board - some of the bodies recovered in the search for the missing Rio to Paris flight.
The aircraft was met by service staff waiting at the air strip...
Dressed in overalls and wearing protective masks and gloves.
One by one, they placed the bodybags on stretchers, then took them away.
A total of 16 bodies have been moved to the island for forenzic examination...
Before they're identified and transported to the Brazilian city of Recife...
Where a temporary mortuary's been set up.
In the meantime 14 planes and six ships continue to scour the waters where they were found...
Some one thousand kilometres off the north coast of Brazil.
SOT: Nelson JOBIM
"Our priority is finding the bodies. We'll look for the black boxes afterwards. A French submarine is coming over to join the search in the same area - which is between 2,000 and 3,000 meters deep."
Earlier search teams pulled a large section of the plane's tail from the ocean.
An important discovery as the AF 447's black boxes were mounted in this part of the aircraft.
Seats and oxygen masks are among the other debris found.
According to investigators, they could provide clues as to the aircraft's final moments.