(Michel Euler/AP)Philippe Naughton and Charles Bremner in Paris
An Air France passenger jet with 231 people on board is missing after dropping off radar screens over the Atlantic Ocean on a flight from Brazil.
Air traffic controllers lost contact with the Airbus A330-200 at 0600 GMT, eight hours after it took off from Rio de Janeiro bound for Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris.
A spokeswoman for the airline said today: "Air France announces with regret that it is without news of flight AF447 from Rio to Paris, which has 216 passengers aboard, and shares the fears of the families involved."
Air France said that there were a total of 15 crew aboard the plane, including three technicians.
An official at the Paris airport authority said: "We are very worried. The plane disappeared from the screens several hours ago. It could be a transponder problem, but this kind of fault is very rare and the plane did not land when expected."
The aircraft was due to arrive in Paris at 11.10 am (0910GMT), which means that it would have been approaching the coast of North Africa or Spain when it lost contact.
Airport authorities have set up a crisis cell at Charles de Gaulle and Air France said all those waiting for the flight would be given access to a special waiting area at the airport's second terminal.
The aircraft in question, tail number F-GZCP, came into service in February 2005.
President Sarkozy's office said that he had asked authorities to "do all they could" to help find the missing aricraft. In a statement, the Elysée said that the President had been informed of the loss of contact this morning and had expressed "the greatest anxiety".
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