PARIS, July 9 (RIA Novosti) - The wreckage of the Air France airliner that crashed into the Atlantic on June 1 killing all 228 people on board has been sent to France for further analysis, the Radio France Internationale said.
Air France Flight 447 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris lost contact with ground controllers about four hours into the flight. The crash is the worst in the airline's 75-year history, and the world's worst for almost a decade.
Only 51 bodies were recovered from the crash site off Brazil's northeast coast in Atlantic. The search for the other bodies has been called off and attempts to find flight data recorders will end on Saturday.
A total of 640 fragments from the Airbus A330 plane, including the entire tailfin, are being transferred by boat to a French Defense Ministry aeronautical laboratory in Toulouse.
A report by the French air accident investigation agency BEA last week said the initial investigation results suggest the jet was intact when it crashed into the ocean, although the cause of the crash is still not known.
Autopsies carried out by Brazilian experts said the injuries also suggest that the plane broke up in the air. Meanwhile, Brazil has failed to provide France with the autopsy reports due to lengthy legal procedures.
