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French plane lost over Atlantic French plane lost in ocean storm
(about 5 hours later)
An Air France plane carrying 228 people from Brazil to France has vanished over the Atlantic after a possible lightning strike, airline officials say. An Air France plane carrying 228 people from Brazil to France has vanished over the Atlantic after flying into turbulence, airline officials say.
The Airbus sent an automatic message at 0214 GMT, four hours after leaving Rio de Janeiro, reporting a short circuit as it flew through strong turbulence. The Airbus sent an automatic message at 0214 GMT, four hours after leaving Rio de Janeiro, reporting a short circuit. It may have been damaged by lightning.
It was well over the ocean when it was lost, making Brazilian and French search planes' task more difficult.It was well over the ocean when it was lost, making Brazilian and French search planes' task more difficult.
Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris has set up a crisis centre. France's president said the chances of finding survivors were "very small".
The black box will be at the bottom of the sea Douglas Ferreira Machado chief Brazilian air accident investigator Timeline of Flight AF 447 Britons may be on lost plane Aeroplanes get hit by lightning on quite a routine basis without generally any problems occurring at all David Gleave Aviation Safety Investigations href="/1/hi/in_pictures/8077522.stm">In pictures: Waiting for news class="" href="/1/hi/world/americas/8077304.stm">Timeline of Flight AF 447 Britons among airliner missing
"The plane might have been struck by lightning - it's a possibility," Francois Brousse, head of communications at Air France, told reporters in Paris. "It is a catastrophe the likes of which Air France has never seen," Nicolas Sarkozy said after meeting relatives and friends of passengers at a crisis centre at Charles de Gaulle airport.
France's minister responsible for transportation, Jean-Louis Borloo, ruled out hijacking as a cause of the plane's loss. Earlier, Air France chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters: "We are without a doubt faced with an air disaster."
He added: "The entire company is thinking of the families and shares their pain."
Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday. It had 216 passengers and 12 crew on board, including three pilots. The passengers included one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men.Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday. It had 216 passengers and 12 crew on board, including three pilots. The passengers included one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men.
Details of the passengers' nationalities were not being released immediately but it is believed that a number of Italians and Britons are among the French people and Brazilians aboard. name="story"> class="bodl" href="#map">See a map of the plane's route
'Long search' Air France confirmed that there had been 61 French and 58 Brazilians on board.
Among the other passengers were 26 Germans, nine Chinese, nine Italians, six Swiss, five Britons, five Lebanese, four Hungarians, three Irish, three Norwegians and three Slovaks.
Lightning theory doubts
The Airbus 330-200 had been expected to arrive in Paris at 1110 local time (0910 GMT).The Airbus 330-200 had been expected to arrive in Paris at 1110 local time (0910 GMT).
Air France's Pierre Henri Gourgeon describes the sequence of events in Paris Tom Symonds, BBC News transport correspondent The Airbus A330 airliner is likely to have begun its journey tracking the coast of Brazil northwards before striking out across the Atlantic. A few hundred miles from the shore, radar coverage peters out - from there on, crews use high frequency radio to report their position.
It is reported to have disappeared 300km (186 miles) north-east of the Brazilian city of Natal. The Brazilian Air Force says the plane left radar screens near the islands of Fernando de Noronha, 230 miles from the coast. The firmest clue to its fate comes from the data message sent via a satellite network at 0214 GMT reporting electrical and pressurisation problems. This suggests whatever happened, happened before the crew could put out a mayday radio call. It was likely a sudden and catastrophic emergency. Even a double engine failure at cruising altitude would normally give the crew around half an hour's gliding time.
Brazilian air force spokesman Col Henry Munhoz told Brazilian TV it had not been picked up by radar on the Cape Verde Islands on its way across the Atlantic, and confirmed that Brazilian air force planes had left Fernando de Noronha to search for the missing airliner. Air France says the plane may have been struck by lightning - the cause of around a dozen major air crashes in the last 50 years - but it rarely results in tragedy. More likely lightning damaged electrical systems, possibly leading indirectly to the plane's ditching.
A French military plane also flew out of Senegal to take part in the search. Although passengers survived a landing on the Hudson River in New York in January - it is rarely successful, especially in the middle of an ocean the size of the Atlantic.
Mr Borloo said the airliner would already have run out of fuel. It made its last radio contact at 0133 GMT (2233 Brazilian time) when it was 565km (360m) off Brazil's north-eastern coast, Brazil's air force said.
"Nothing on Spanish radar, nothing on Moroccan radar, nothing on French radar - we seriously have to fear the worst," he added. The crew said they were planning to enter Senegalese airspace at 0220 GMT and that the plane was flying normally at an altitude of 10,670m (35,000ft).
Douglas Ferreira Machado, head of investigation and accident prevention for Brazil's Civil Aeronautics Agency, said the search would take "a long time". At 0220, when Brazilian air traffic controllers saw the plane had not made its required radio call from Senegalese airspace, air traffic control in the Senegalese capital was contacted.
"It could be a long, sad story," he told Brazil's Globo news. "The black box will be at the bottom of the sea." At 0530 GMT, Brazil's air force launched a search-and-rescue mission, sending out a coast guard patrol plane and a specialised air force rescue aircraft.
An Air France spokeswoman said there had been no radio contact with the plane "for a while". France is despatching three search planes based in Dakar, Senegal, and has asked the US to help with satellite technology.
Crisis centre "The plane might have been struck by lightning - it's a possibility," Francois Brousse, head of communications at Air France, told reporters in Paris.
An Air France official told AFP that people awaiting the flight would be received in a special area at Charles de Gaulle airport's second terminal. David Gleave, from Aviation Safety Investigations, told the BBC that planes were routinely struck by lightning, and the cause of the crash remained a mystery.
"Aeroplanes get hit by lightning on quite a routine basis without generally any problems occurring at all," he told BBC Radio Five Live.
"Whether it's related to this electrical storm and the electrical failure on the aeroplane, or whether it's another reason, we have to find the aeroplane first."
France's minister responsible for transportation, Jean-Louis Borloo, ruled out hijacking as a cause of the plane's loss.
'No information'
Mr Sarkozy said he had met "a mother who lost her son, a fiance who lost her future husband".
TIMELINE Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on SundayAirbus A330-200 carrying 216 passengers and at least 12 crewContact lost 0130 GMTMissed scheduled landing at 1110 local time (0910 GMT) in Paris Air disasters timelineTIMELINE Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on SundayAirbus A330-200 carrying 216 passengers and at least 12 crewContact lost 0130 GMTMissed scheduled landing at 1110 local time (0910 GMT) in Paris Air disasters timeline
Relatives and friends of the passengers have been ushered away from the main arrivals hall, the BBC's Alistair Sandford reports from Paris. "I told them the truth," he said afterwards. "The prospects of finding survivors are very small."
"I want to say that everyone at Air France is deeply moved and shares the grief of the relatives of the passengers, and we will do everything possible to help them," said the chief executive of Air France, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon. Finding the plane would be "very difficult" because the search zone was "immense", he added.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed deep concern and called on the relevant authorities to do everything they could to find the plane, his office said. About 20 relatives of passengers on board the flight arrived at Rio's Jobim international airport on Monday morning seeking information.
Bernardo Souza, who said his brother and sister-in-law were on the flight, complained he had received no details from Air France.
"I had to come to the airport but when I arrived I just found an empty counter," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
Air France has opened a telephone hotline for friends and relatives of people on the plane - 00 33 157021055 for callers outside France and 0800 800812 for inside France.Air France has opened a telephone hotline for friends and relatives of people on the plane - 00 33 157021055 for callers outside France and 0800 800812 for inside France.
This is the first major incident in Brazilian air space since a Tam flight crashed in Sao Paulo in July 2007 killing 199 people.This is the first major incident in Brazilian air space since a Tam flight crashed in Sao Paulo in July 2007 killing 199 people.
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