Air accident investigators have announced that they are calling off the latest search for an Air France jet which went down in the Atlantic, killing all 228 crew and passengers. Following three-weeks of searching, French officials have ordered a specially equipped Norwegian exploration vessel to return to the Brazilian port of Recife.

The decision has angered a group which represents the families of those who died in the crash. President of Entraide et Solidarité AF447, Jean-Baptist Audousset, said that it was imperative that the wreckage of the jet, as well as its black-box flight recorders, be found. He added that this was not just for the sake of the families of those who perished, but for aviation safety in general. He went on to say that the cause of the crash had to be understood, so that a disaster like this would not happen again.

Tensions between the Defense Ministry and the French Transport Ministry have been growing over recent weeks because of disagreements over where the Airbus A330 went down. An anonymous member of the investigation team said that analysis of the navy’s sonar data was released too soon, and that the navy had wished to conduct more tests before releasing its findings.

Spokesman for the French Bureau of Investigations and Analyses, Alain Guilldou, said that over the past three weeks more than 1,200 square miles of ocean bed had been scoured for debris. He added that the lease on the equipment being used in the search had now expired.

Mr Guilldou has not ruled out further searches which have already cost the French government, Air France and the aircrafts manufacturer, Airbus, more than €30 million.