The Brazilian authorities said on Sunday that no signals from the black box have been detected by the search team.

Investigators say data and voice recorders from black box are key to determining what caused an Air France plane to crash in the Atlantic with 228 people on board three weeks ago.

The Flight Data Recorder is commonly known as the black box and it stores the communication in the cockpit, communication between the crew and communication between the pilot and the air traffic controller.

Recovery of the black box will provide vital clues such as the conversation between the pilots in the last few seconds before the crash.

For this reason, the black box is constructed to withstand high speed impact, intense fire and being submerged in water. The black box will emit signals periodically that will allow search teams equipped with sonar equipment to identify the location.

So far, the search for the black box has yielded no leads.

Currently, the Atlantic Ocean is scoured for the black box of the Air France flight 447 by the French submarine Emeraude and two tug boats equipped with powerful underwater listening locator device provided by the U.S. Navy.

The locator device is capable of searching to a depth of 20,000 feet (6,100 meters).

On Sunday the first identities of the recovered bodies were announced. Out of the 50 bodies recovered so far, 11 have been identified, Brazilian authorities said.

They were five Brazilian men, five Brazilian women and a foreigner whose nationality is not yet released according to a statement Sunday from the federal police and secretary of defense of Pernambuco.

On Friday Air France said it would pay families of each victims of the crash about €17,500 ($24,500) in initial compensation.

Leak