Aug 20, 2009, 17:32 GMT
Paris - French aviation authorities said Thursday they have suspended their search for the wreckage of the Air France aircraft that plunged into the Atlantic on June 1 with 228 people aboard.
'Of course, we continue in the hope we will find the wreck and the plane's flight recorder,' the Bureau of Accident Investigation and Analysis (BEA) told the German Press Agency dpa.
A spokeswoman said the information collected so far would have to be analysed before embarking on the next phase of the search. 'We will take all the time necessary to do this,' she said.
The Airbus A330-200 aircraft, carrying 216 passengers and a crew of 12, plunged into the sea some 1,200 kilometers off the Brazilian coastline while on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
Search operations so far have turned up 51 bodies and 640 pieces of wreckage.
A French submarine was involved in the search for the plane's fuselage and flight recorder, scouring a radius of 70 kilometres from where the jet gave its final signal before disappearing.
The spokeswoman said experts from France, Brazil, Britain, Germany and the United States would be consulted before embarking on the next stage of the search.
This would cover a larger area than the original search, she said.
Investigations so far have shown the plane was intact when it crashed into the water at high speed. There was no evidence of fire or an explosion on board.
Data from the plane's automatic systems showed its autopilot had been switched off and speed indicators were not working.
The BEA said this was 'an element, but not the cause' of the crash.
Air France is currently replacing the sensors that measure a plane's speed.
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