RIO DE JANEIRO, June 26 (RIA Novosti) - Brazilian police confirmed in a statement on Friday that remains found on June 23 in the Atlantic Ocean close to where an Air France plane went down on June 1 were human.

The development means that 51 bodies have so far been recovered from the Atlantic Ocean crash site, 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) off Brazil's northeast coast.

Brazilian forensic experts have so far established the identity of 14 of the bodies. The others have been taken to a forensic institute in the northern Brazilian city of Recife.

Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris was carrying 228 passengers and crew when it lost contact with ground controllers about four hours into the flight. The crash is the worst in the airline's 75-year history, and the world's worst for almost a decade.

Although there has been no official statement, authorities have said autopsies performed on the bodies indicated that there had been no explosion or fire on board the aircraft.

Experts have said the injuries sustained by the victims and the recovery of the largely intact tail fin suggest the airliner broke up in the air before crashing into the water.