Recife, Brazil ? Searchers found two passengers’ bodies and a briefcase containing an Air France Flight 447 ticket in the Atlantic Ocean near where the jetliner is believed to have crashed, a Brazil military official said Saturday.

The French agency investigating the disaster, meanwhile, said airspeed instruments were not replaced as the maker recommended before the plane disappeared in turbulent weather nearly a week ago during a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people aboard.

All were killed, the world’s worst commercial air accident since 2001, and Air France’s deadliest plane crash.

The bodies of two male passengers were recovered Saturday morning about 45 miles south of where Air France Flight 447 emitted its last signals — roughly 400 miles northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil’s northern coast.

Brazilian air force spokesman Col. Jorge Amaral said an Air France ticket was found inside a leather briefcase.

“It was confirmed with Air France that the ticket number corresponds to a passenger on the flight,” he said.

Admiral Edison Lawrence said the bodies were being transported to the Fernando de Noronha islands for identification. A backpack with a laptop and a vaccination card also was recovered.

The finds could potentially establish a more precise search area for the crucial black box flight data and voice recorders that could tell investigators why the jet crashed.

The U.S. Navy is sending two high-tech devices to French ships that will help them locate the black boxes, a senior U.S. defense official told The Associated Press on Saturday.

The Towed Pinger Locators, which can detect emergency beacons to a depth of 20,000 feet, are being flown to Brazil on Monday with a U.S. Navy team, said the official, who requested anonymity because the decision, which came in response to a request from France, has not been announced.

The team will deliver the locators to two French tugs that will use them to listen for transmissions from the black box, the official said.

Finding the flight recorders is not the concern, however, of the Brazilian searchers, who don’t have the deepwater submersibles needed to find the black boxes. Those are being provided by France.

“The black box is not the responsibility of this operation, the aim of which is the search for survivors, bodies and debris — in that sequence of priority,” said Air Force Col. Henry Munhoz.

The discovery of the bodies and debris gave relief to some family members, many of whom gathered in a hotel in Rio, where they’ve received constant updates about the search.