Search for Air France crash victims called off after 26 days

French officials have given no indication they are ending their own search efforts. To date, authorities have recovered 51 bodies as well as 600 pieces of wreckage from the Airbus A330-200 jetliner.

Investigators found 51 bodies and 600 pieces of the crashed jet as well as other personal items belonging to passengers according to reports from Folha.

Brazilian Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Henry Munhoz said the military was unlikely to find additional bodies and wreckage in the search area 26 days.

"It's already been nine days without seeing any bodies," Munhoz said in a televised news conference.

French Navy ships will still however continue searching for signals of the crashed jet’s black boxes.

The two recorders are essential to help determine what happened to the crashed jet that plunged into the ocean killing all 228 people on board.

The black boxes' locator beacons, known as pingers, emit signals for 30 days after the crash. After this time has passed, it could become impossible to locate the black box flight recorders and discover what happened to the Airbus A330 which crashed approximately four hours after taking off from Rio en route for Paris.

Searchers have been combing an area with a radius of 50 miles in the hope of detecting signals from the boxes that can be heard only up to about two miles.

The Airbus A330 plane fell into the Atlantic after running into thunderstorms en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.