Brazil ends search for victims of Air France flight

June 28th, 2009 - 1:39 am ICT by IANS  

Rio de Janeiro, June 27 (DPA) The Brazilian air force and navy have ended their search for survivors of Air France flight that crashed into the Atlantic nearly four weeks ago, officials announced Saturday.

“The mission has been stopped, because it has become impossible to find bodies or debris in the search area,” said Lt. Col. Henry Munhoz.

That would mean the remains of 177 of the passengers and crew of the downed plane will never be discovered. A total of 51 bodies have been discovered in the search area. No bodies have been found since June 17, Munhoz was quoted as saying by newspaper Folha.

More than 600 pieces of debris have been fished from the Atlantic. However, the plane’s flight data recorders have not been found yet and will likely stop transmitting their signals in a matter of days. They are believed to be beneath thousands of metres of seawater.

No cause for the June 1 crash has been determined.

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