Four more bodies have been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean near the area where Air France Flight 447 crashed on June 1, Brazil's Navy told reporters on Tuesday.

The remains were found northeast of the island chain Soa Pedro y Sao Paulo by navy frigate Bosisio, which has room to carry 20 bodies, said Giucemar Tabosa, the navy's public relations consultant. The new discovery brought the total number of bodies found and recovered so far to 28.

The Brazilian navy frigate Constitution is close to the port of Fernando de Noronha, and will soon deliver the first 16 bodies recovered, Tabosa said. After that the vessel will return to the search area.

Two navy helicopters arrived at the port carrying the first bodies earlier on Tuesday. The first, a Black Hawk, landed at 9:45 AM local time (1245 GMT) and the second, a Super Puma, arrived at noon (1500 GMT). Tabosa said that bad weather in the region had delayed the helicopters' arrival.

After basic identification procedures at the port, the bodies will be transferred to the northeastern city of Recife by a Brazil Air Force C-130 transport aircraft.

Late on Monday, Brazil's President Luis Inacio da Silva told media that the government would make all necessary efforts to recover the remains of those who died in the accident.

The Air France plane fell into the ocean with 228 people aboard en route to Paris from Rio de Janeiro.

(Xinhua News Agency June 10, 2009)