Bad weather has prevented search crews from recovering more bodies at the Atlantic Ocean crash site of Air France Flight 447, which fell down on May 31, Brazil's Air Force said on Wednesday.

Heavy rains in Fernando de Noronha islands near the crash site have been making it difficult for aircraft to work, Lieutenant Colonel Ramon Cardoso said.

"The search is taking much longer than expected," he said. "We had thought we could reach the site by 3:00 PM local time (1800 GMT), but now we are estimating 8:00 PM (2300 GMT) or 8:30 PM (2330 GMT)."

But he said the search might not last even longer.

"Our hope is that we will be able to continue searching in acceptable distances until the 19th (this month)," he said, adding that recovery efforts would depend on the number of bodies found in one area and maritime currents strength.

Currently the searching ships are focusing in one area, he added.

Air France Flight 447, an Airbus 330-200, was traveling from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people on board from 32 nations when it vanished over the Atlantic Ocean around midnight on May 31.

(Xinhua News Agency June 11, 2009)