A court in France has cleared Air France and Airbus of charges of involuntary manslaughter over a deadly crash in 2009 which killed all 228 people on board. The Airbus A330 operated by Air France crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. The court said that even if errors had been committed, it was not possible to prove a causal link between them and the disaster. The ruling follows a public trial brought by relatives of the victims. Relatives of the victims appeared stunned when the verdict was read out, standing up and then sitting down again, according to AFP news agency. It was the first trial for corporate involuntary manslaughter to be held in France. Air France and Airbus had always denied the charges, for which they were facing a maximum fine of €225,000 (£200,000; $247,000). The companies said pilot error was to blame for the crash. The investigation revealed that the plane had encountered a high-altitude thunderstorm hours after departing from Rio de Janeiro.(BBC)…[+]