French airliner missing over Atlantic, 228 on board (Third Lead)
June 1st, 2009 - 7:55 pm ICT by IANSParis/Rio de Janeiro, June 1 (DPA) An Air France flight with 228 people on board has been lost over the Atlantic Monday morning, sparking a major search mission off the Brazilian coast.
The Airbus A330-200, flight number AF 447, left Rio de Janeiro for Paris, but radio contact was lost with the plane shortly after 0600 GMT, reports in both countries said.
“The plane could have been hit by lightning,” said the Chief Executive of Air France, Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, suggesting the plane could have lost its power supply during a storm.
“We are undoubtedly facing an aviation catastrophe,” he added.
In Paris, the Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau, warned that “we must unfortunately prepare for the worst”.
Experts have not ruled out a terrorist attack.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy was “greatly concerned” about the situation, according to his office, and a special crisis team and facilities have been set up at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport - where the plane had been due to land at 09.10 GMT.
The Brazilian air force has now scrambled a search and rescue mission to the area around the tiny island of Fernando de Noronha, around 300 km off the northeast coast of Brazil.
A French military reconnaissance aircraft has also taken off from Senegal, on the west African coast, to take part in the search mission.
French RTL broadcaster quoted Brazilian air traffic controllers as saying there had been no distress message from the plane.
According to Brazilian broadcaster Globonews, there were 216 passengers, and 12 crew on board.
- French airliner missing over Atlantic, 228 on board (Second Lead) - Jun 01, 2009
- French airliner missing over Atlantic with 228 on board (Fifth Lead) - Jun 01, 2009
- AF447 flight of death official timeline - Jun 02, 2009
- Bodies found, no black box among 2009 Air France crash wreckage - Apr 05, 2011
- Search continues for missing Air France jet with 228 aboard (Lead) - Jun 02, 2009
- Air France jetliner goes missing over Atlantic Ocean - Jun 01, 2009
- Bodies from missing Air France plane found - Jun 07, 2009
- Air France-KLM CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon resigns - Oct 18, 2011
- French airliner missing off Brazil (Lead) - Jun 01, 2009
- Three more bodies recovered in Air France crash (Second Lead) - Jun 07, 2009
- Mystery deepens over whereabouts of Air France plane - Jun 06, 2009
- Body of Air France pilot identified - Jun 25, 2009
- Missing Air France jet hit by electric fault (Fourth Lead) - Jun 01, 2009
- Wreckage seen in search area for missing Air France plane: Report (Second Lead) - Jun 02, 2009
- Body recovered from 2009 Air France flight - May 05, 2011
Tags: AF447, air france, air france flight, air traffic controllers, airbus a330 200, atlantic monday, brazilian air force, distress message, dominique bussereau, fernando de noronha, france pierre, french president nicolas, french president nicolas sarkozy, military reconnaissance, nicolas sarkozy, paris charles de gaulle, paris charles de gaulle airport, president nicolas sarkozy, reconnaissance aircraft, search and rescue mission, search mission