There is virtually no hope for the 228 people on board a packed Air France jet which went missing over the Atlantic Ocean today, the worst disaster in the airline's history.
Five Britons and two Irish citizens are believed to have been on the flight from Brazil, which Air France said was probably brought down by a lightning strike after hitting a fierce storm.
Flight AF447 took off from Rio de Janeiro at 7.03pm local time yesterday bound for Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, where it was due at 11.15am today (9.15GMT).
Air traffic controllers had their last contact with the aircraft about four hours into the flight, when the pilot said that he had hit severe turbulence. Exactly 15 minutes later, seven hours before it was due in Paris, the aircraft's systems sent automatic error messages reporting multiple electrical faults and, according to a statement from the Brazilian air force, lost cabin pressure.
The combination of the two implied that the Airbus A330-200 - a plane with an excellent safety record - might have simply broken up in the storm. Officials held out little hope of there being any survivors.
"The most likely thing is that the plane was hit by lightning. The plane was in a stormy area with strong turbulence, which provoked problems," said François Brouse, Air France’s director of communications.
"We are probably facing an air catastrophe," added Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, the airline's chief executive. "It's certainly no longer in the air now. It would have run out of fuel."
Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, tonight said there was a “very small” chance of finding survivors.
Brazilian officials said 60 of those who died were from Brazil and the French minister responsible for transport confirmed that there were at least 40 French people and 25 Germans on the flight. Other reports listed six Danes, five Italians, three Moroccans, two Lebanese and a Portuguese among the passengers, although some may have been counted twice.
Airport officials in Paris reported initially that the airliner had dropped off radar screens at 0600GMT, somewhere between the Azores and the coast of North Africa. In fact, it appears to have come down closer to Brazil, although a search and rescue mission sent out from the Brazilian archipelago of Fernando de Noronha has found no trace of it.
France sent a long-range military reconnaissance plane from a base in Senegal to join the search for wreckage or signals from the Airbus's emergency beacons.
Air France said that the 216 passengers were made up of one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men. It said that the aircraft entered service in 2005 and last had maintenance on April 16.
There were 12 crew on board and Air France said that the pilot and two co-pilots all had considerable experience flying the aircraft.
"It’s going to take a long time to carry out this search," said Douglas Ferreira Machado, head of investigation and accident prevention for Brazil’s Civil Aeronautics Agency. "It could be a long, sad story. The black box will be at the bottom of the sea."
"The conclusion to be drawn is that something catastrophic happened on board that has caused this airplane to ditch in a controlled or an uncontrolled fashion," Chris Yates, an analyst at Jane’s Aviation, said.
"I would suggest that potentially it went down very quickly and so quickly that the pilot on board didn’t have a chance to make that emergency call."
Airport authorities have set up a crisis room at Charles de Gaulle and Air France said that all those waiting for the flight would be given access to a special area at the airport's second terminal.
President Sarkozy was due to go to show his solidarity with relatives. Mr Sarkozy’s office said that he had ordered all relevant government agencies to hunt "for any sign of the plane and to quickly shine a light on the reasons for its disappearance".
Brazil had two big aircarft crashes in 2006 and 2007, raising concerns about the safety of air travel in Latin America’s largest country.
In July 2007, all 187 people on board and 12 people on the ground died when a TAM airline Airbus A 320 overshot a runway at São Paulo’s Congonhas airport.
Timeline of a disaster
Sunday, May 31, 7.03pm local time (10.03pm GMT): Flight AF447 takes off from Rio de Janeiro's Galeão International Airport headed for Paris Charles de Gaulle. There are 216 passengers and 12 crew on board
10.33pm local time: Final contact between AF447 and Brazilian air traffic control. Jet is 565 km (360 miles) off Brazil’s northeast coast, altitude 10,670 metres (35,000 feet)
11pm: AF447’s captain reports entering heavy turbulence caused by Atlantic storms
11.14pm: AF447 sends automated warning of electrical short circuit. Brazilian and African air traffic control authorities alerted
11.20pm: AF447 fails to make required radio call saying it has reached Senegalese airspace. Brazilian air traffic control contacts Senegalese civil aviation authorities
Monday June 1, 12.30am: Brazilian air force launches search and rescue mission, sending out coastguard patrol plane and air force rescue aircraft
7.30am GMT: Crisis room set up at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport.
9.10am: AF447 due in Paris
9.34am: News breaks that it has "disappeared from radar screens"
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