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Searchers found four more debris fields Wednesday from an Air France jet that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean early Monday, the Brazilian Air Force said.

Two debris fields were found Tuesday, with the wreckage identified as coming from Flight 447.

The Airbus A330 carrying 228 people went down about three hours after beginning what was to have been an 11-hour flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, France.

Among the debris found Wednesday were various objects in a circular 5-kilometer (3-mile) area; one object with a diameter of 7 meters (23 feet); 10 objects, some of which were metallic; and an oil slick that extended as far as 20 kilometers (12 miles), said Brazilian Air Force spokesman Jorge Amaral.

The latest debris was found about 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of Tuesday's discovery, Amaral said. The earlier debris was about 650 kilometers (400 miles) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha Islands, an archipelago 355 kilometers (220 miles) off the northeast coast of Brazil.

Eleven aircraft and five ships are engaged in the search. No survivors are expected, officials have said.

Meanwhile, French officials said Wednesday that they may never find the doomed jets' flight data recorders.

"We need time to reach the recorders," said Paul-Louis Arslanian, head of France's Accident Investigation Bureau.

The recorders give off a locator signal that lasts for up to 30 days, and the French government has sent a research vessel with a deep-diving submersible on board to the area where the plane's debris was found.

French officials said weather conditions at the site -- believed to be a major factor in the crash -- remain "extremely difficult" and the depth of the Atlantic near the sites where wreckage was found is around 7,000 meters (21,000 feet).

"Even in history ... recorders from time to time were found after the 30 days. But I'm not so optimistic," said Arslanian at a press conference Wednesday. "It's not only deep it's also very mountainous at that place of the ocean."

Arslanian said answers on what caused the crash could take a long time.

"It could be long, we can not do with 80 percent understanding," said Arslanian. "This catastrophe is the worst that our country has known in our country's air history."

He said there appeared to be no problems with Flight AF 447 before take-off, but that everything had to be "checked and verified."

French investigators were first mobilized on Monday, with four teams set up to conduct the probe. One has been tasked with recovering the wreck and flight recorders, the second group are looking at the aircraft's maintenance history, the third checking the operations of the plane, and the last group studying the plane's systems and equipment.

The investigation's team leader, Alain Bouillard, said their first preliminary report would be submitted by the end of June.

A memorial for the victims of Flight AF 447, which included 61 people from France, 58 Brazilians, 26 Germans and people from 29 other countries, took place later Wednesday at the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris. Brazil has declared three days of mourning.

Source: cnn.com