The bodies of two men, a suitcase and an aircraft seat have been found by Brazilian naval vessels searching for wreckage from Air France flight AF447.

Brazilian Air Force spokesman Colonel Jorge Amaral said the ship had found a suitcase with an Air France baggage tag attached to it, as well as an oxygen mask, a backpack containing a laptop computer and a seat with a serial number that matched the missing Airbus A300-200.

All 228 passengers and crew on Air France AF447 are believed to have been killed when the Rio de Janeiro to Paris flight went missing four hours into an 11-hour flight last Monday morning.

For days an international fleet of aircraft and ships have been searching the Atlantic in the hope of finding clues to how Air France flight 447 vanished.

According to Colonel Amaral the bodies and other items were picked up about 400 miles (640 kilometers) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil’s northern coast at 0814 Brazilian time (1114 GMT) and experts on human remains are on their way to examine them.

Earlier today it was reported the Airbus A300-200 had sent out 24 automatic error messages in its final moments as its systems broke down one by one. Previously Air France had said 12 reports had been received over a four-minute period.

The airline has not explained how the additional 12 warning messages were overlooked.