Air France Crash Victims' Families To Be Repaid By Airline

On Tuesday, a French judge ordered Air France to pay the families of the victims of flight 447, which crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009.

A lawyer representing the families of the victims told the Associated Press that the judge ordered the airline to pay 126,000 Euros (or $176,000) to next of kin for each passenger.

Attorney Marc Fribourg told the news organization that the judge ruled "the link between malfunctions (on the aircraft) and the accident was not certain." As such, Airbus was not ordered to pay.

In the two years since the deadly crash, an investigation showed that the plane dove into the Ocean in minutes and that the flight's pilots were to blame for the swift crash. The airline also faced manslaughter charges in the accident.

In early June, the flight's recovery mission was completed. In all, 104 bodies were recovered from the crash.