Five Britons and three Irish citizens were among 228 passengers and crew feared killed today when a packed Air France jet ran into strong turbulence off the coast of Brazil and vanished from radar screens.
As the airline faced up to the worst disaster in its history, it confirmed the chances of anyone surviving the catastrophe were zero.
It is believed Flight AF447 was either brought down by a lightning strike after hitting the severe weather or suffered a devastating mechanical failure.
The Airbus A330-200 - a plane with an excellent safety record – had taken off from Rio de Janeiro at 7.03pm local time on Sunday.
The flight had been due to arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at 11.15am today - some 11 hours later - but air traffic controllers had their last contact with the aircraft about four hours into the flight.
The pilot came on the radio saying he had hit severe turbulence. Fifteen minutes later the aircraft's systems sent automatic error messages reporting multiple electrical faults and a drastic loss of cabin pressure. Such factors suggested that the plane had broken up in the storm, said an Air France source in Paris.
The source confirmed that there was ‘no hope’ of finding anybody in the wreckage.
The Brazilian Air Force is carrying out a search for the missing aircraft.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: 'I have been in touch with the Foreign Office... We are doing all the checking that is necessary.'
'We are probably facing an air catastrophe,' Air France Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said. (Daily Mail)
As the airline faced up to the worst disaster in its history, it confirmed the chances of anyone surviving the catastrophe were zero.It is believed Flight AF447 was either brought down by a lightning strike after hitting the severe weather or suffered a devastating mechanical failure.
The Airbus A330-200 - a plane with an excellent safety record – had taken off from Rio de Janeiro at 7.03pm local time on Sunday.
The flight had been due to arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at 11.15am today - some 11 hours later - but air traffic controllers had their last contact with the aircraft about four hours into the flight.
The pilot came on the radio saying he had hit severe turbulence. Fifteen minutes later the aircraft's systems sent automatic error messages reporting multiple electrical faults and a drastic loss of cabin pressure. Such factors suggested that the plane had broken up in the storm, said an Air France source in Paris.
The source confirmed that there was ‘no hope’ of finding anybody in the wreckage.
The Brazilian Air Force is carrying out a search for the missing aircraft.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: 'I have been in touch with the Foreign Office... We are doing all the checking that is necessary.'
'We are probably facing an air catastrophe,' Air France Chief Executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon said. (Daily Mail)
