The plane was carrying about 231 passengers. They are not expecting anyone to survive.
This story was taken from Bloomberg news.



June 1 (Bloomberg) -- An Air France Airbus A330 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris with 228 people aboard is missing after reporting an electrical-circuit breakdown and encountering turbulence, Air France-KLM said.

President Nicolas Sarkozy will visit the crisis center at Charles de Gaulle airport later today, his office said, adding that the president was “deeply concerned.” Earlier, Sarkozy sent two ministers to the airport. The plane lost contact very far from Brazil’s Atlantic coast, Air France Chief Executive Officer Pierre Henri Gorgeon told a press conference. The company isn’t ruling out a lightning strike on the aircraft, Francois Brousse, head of communications, said.

The plane disappeared from radar screens between the Brazilian city of Natal and the Cape Verde island of Ilha do Sal, according to a Brazilian air force colonel speaking on CBN radio in Brazil. The plane encountered strong turbulence at 4 a.m. Paris time and sent automatic distress signals at 4:14 a.m., the company said.

Flight 447, which was carrying eight children including a baby, was due to land today 11:10 a.m. Paris time, Agence France-Presse said. The agency said there was no hope for the flight, according to an unidentified airport official.

The Brazilian Defense Ministry said it was searching for the plane. Brazilian authorities last heard from the crew at 11 p.m. local time, the ministry said. The search is taking place near the island of Fernando de Noronha, 1,500 miles (2,400 kilometers) northeast of Rio de Janeiro, the Associated Press said. A French military plane has left its base in Dakar, Senegal, to join the search, AFP reported.