Search ends for Air France crash remains

PARIS, June 8 (UPI) -- The operation to recover bodies from the Air France 477 crash into the Atlantic Ocean two years ago has ended, a French official said Wednesday.

Philippe Vinogradoff, consul general for France, said crews brought 27 more sets of human remains to the surface Friday, marking the end of recovery efforts, CNN reported.

Seventy-four bodies remain missing.

Crews recovered the remains of 104 bodies from the crash off Brazil's coast during this year's recovery operation. Fifty bodies were found in the days after the plane went down.

The remains and recovered aircraft parts were being taken by ship to the Canary Islands, where they are expected to arrive Thursday, French air accident investigators said. They then will be transferred to Bayonne in southwestern France.

All 228 people on board were killed when the plane crashed into the Atlantic during stormy weather soon after departing Rio de Janeiro for Paris on June 1, 2009.