French End Flight 447 Search in Atlantic

French investigators say they have abandoned a search in the Atlantic Ocean for the black boxes from Air France Flight 447.

The Airbus jet crashed June 1 into the ocean en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, killing all 228 people aboard.

The French accident investigation agency says in a statement that the research ship leading the hunt for the plane's black box flight recorders left the site and was to arrive in Dakar, Senegal on Thursday.

The statement says the second phase of search efforts focusing on the underwater hunt for the black boxes "has finished." It says investigators and experts will gather in the coming weeks to determine whether to launch a third phase.

Click here for a timeline of the crash and the recovery mission.

No details about the possible third phase were provided.

Meanwhile, French authorities say a ship carrying an underwater robot has arrived at the Indian Ocean nation of Comoros to retrieve the flight recorders from the Yemenia Airways plane crash.

One girl survived the June 30 ocean crash and the other 152 people aboard the Comoros-bound flight were killed. Many were French citizens of Comoran origin.

France's Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the ship arrived in the area Thursday.

The boat will be used to look for the plane's black boxes, or flight voice and data recorders. A French navy vessel pinpointed their location last month about at 3,900 feet deep, but did not have the deep-sea equipment to try to fetch them.

Investigators from France, Yemen and Comoros will participate in the operation.