Air France officials have ‘lost hope’ after a passenger jet carrying 228 people disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean this morning after running into strong turbulence.
‘We are probably facing an air catastrophe,’ Air France Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters.
Flight AF447 took off from Rio de Janeiro’s international airport at 7pm Brazilian time last night (10pm GMT).
Airline officials said the aircraft had sent an automatic message at 2.14am GMT reporting an electrical short-circuit, after it had flown through a stormy area with strong turbulence just over four hours into the flight.
The plane, an Airbus 330-200, lost contact with air traffic control, dropped off radar screens and has not arrived in Paris – despite being scheduled to land there at 11.10 am (9.10am GMT).
Brazil’s Air Force said it lost contact with the plane at 1.33am GMT.
‘It was well advanced over the Atlantic when we had the last contact,’ a Brazilian air force spokesman said.
The carrier said 216 passengers were on board, including seven children and one baby, and 12 crew members. Sixty of the passengers were French, and at least three were Italian. Some British passengers were believed to be onboard. There were 82 women and 126 men onboard.
Air France said the pilots were highly experienced. It says the plane entered service in 2005 and last underwent maintenance April 16. The flight usually lasts around 11 hours.
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Updates:
1:20 pm EDT — Massive Search Underway
5:07 am EDT, June 2nd, 2009 — Guelph man on board
6:30 am EDT, June 2nd, 2009 — Search continues for missing Air France flight
6:42 am EDT, June 2nd, 2009 — Pilots Saw ‘Fire on Ocean’ Where Jet Vanished
9:53 am EDT, June 2nd, 2009 — Plane debris found in path Air France jet took
1:46 pm EDT, June 2nd, 2009 — Retrieving Air France black box will be epic task
1:53 pm EDT, June 2nd, 2009 — Air France announces memorial for passengers
7:36 pm EDT, June 2nd, 2009 — Brazil finds wreckage of Air France jet in the Atlantic