Air France flight AF 447 sent an automatic message at 4.14am local time, four hours after leaving Rio de Janeiro, reporting a short circuit while flying through an area of turbulence. The Airbus then disappeared from all monitors and was not picked up by radar in the Cape Verde islands on its way across the Atlantic.
It was scheduled to arrive in Paris at 11.10am local time. It is thought to have disappeared 186 miles north-east of the Brazilian city of Natal. It had begun its ocean crossing by the time it was lost, making the search undertaken by Brazilian and French planes more difficult.
The “possibility” that the plane may have been struck down by lightning was publicly acknowledged by Francois Brousse, head of communications at Air France. The airline’s chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters, “We are, without doubt, faced with an air disaster.” Jean-Louis Borloo, France’s minister responsible for transportation, ruled out the possibility of a hijacking. He also pointed out that the craft would already have run out of fuel.
Borloo declared that there were some sixty French a similar number of Brazilians on board, as well as a mixture of other nationalities, mostly European. He said: “We seriously have to fear the worst,” pointing out that neither Spanish, Moroccan, nor French radar picked up any sign of the aircraft.
Brazilian air force spokesman Colonel Henry Munhoz told Brazilian television stations that Brazilian airforce planes had left the Brazilian archipelago Fernando de Noronha in search of the liner.
An Air France spokesperson said that there had been no radio contact with the plane “for a while”. Douglas Ferreira Machado, head of investigation and accident prevention for Brazil’s Civic Aeronautics Agency, warned that the search would take “a long time” and added, “The black box will be at the bottom of the sea.”
French President Nicolas Sarkozy expressed deep concern and called for all possible efforts to be made to find the plane.
Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris has set up a crisis centre and 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 those inside France). The BBC’s Alistair Sandford reports from Paris that relatives and friends of the passengers have been ushered away from the main arrivals hall. An Air France official said that people awaitin the flight would be received in a special area inside the terminal.