Un avion al companiei aeriene Air France, cu 228 persoane la bord,, din care 12 membri ai echipajului, care efectua un zbor Brazilia-Franta a disparut de pe ecranele radarelor, luni dimineata, sustin surse aeroportuare franceze, citate de Reuters.
Compania Air France a confirmat ca nu a mai putut lua contactul cu zborul AF 447 de cateva ore. Compania a mai anuntat ca rudele celor care calatoreau cu cursa AF 447 primesc ingrijiri de specialitate la aeroportul Charles de Gaulle.
Cursa Rio de Janeiro-Paris, efectuata de un aparat de tip Airbus 330-200, plecase din Rio duminica, la ora locala 19:00 si "era asteptata la Paris luni, la ora locala 11:00" a spus o purtatoare de cuvant a Air France.
Televiziunea braziliana a anuntat ca fortele aeriene braziliene au inceput o misiune de cautare a aparatului in Oceanul Atlantic. In plus, surse guvernamentale braziliene au explicat ca avionul a disparut de pe radare duminica la ora locala 22.30, dupa aproximativ 3 ore si jumatate de zbor.
In aceste circumstante, contrlorii de zbor au pierdut contactul cu avionul cand acesta era inca relativ aproape de Brazilia.
Ministrul francez al Ecologiei, Energiei si Dezvoltarii Durabile, Jean-Louis Borloo, a precizat ca, intre timp, avionul a ramas, probabil, fara combustibil, si se asteapta la ce este mai rau. Oficialul a subliniat ca aparatul a disparut si de pe radarele militare.
Potrivit unei informatii neconfirmate, la bordul avionului disparut s-ar afla cinci italieni, scrie agentia italiana ANSA.
Pentru mai multe detalii, compania Air France poate fi contactata accesand adresele de mail sau numerele de telefon postate pe website-ul sau.
French plane lost over Atlantic
An Air France plane carrying at least 228 people from Brazil to France has gone missing over the Atlantic.
Paris Charles de Gaulle airport says contact was lost with the flight from Rio de Janeiro early in the morning.
Brazil's air force confirmed the plane was missing and said a search and rescue mission was under way near the island of Fernando de Noronha.
French minister Jean-Louis Borloo said the plane had probably had an accident and ruled out hijacking.
An airport official told AFP the Airbus 330-200 had been expected to arrive in Paris at 1110 local time (0910 GMT).
Another official said it was possible that the plane had a transponder problem but this was very rare.
"We are very worried," he said, quoted by AFP news agency.
Crisis centre
Mr Borloo, the minister in charge of transport, said the plane would already have run out of fuel.
"By now it would be beyond its kerosene reserves so unfortunately we must now envisage the most tragic scenario," he said, quoted by Reuters news agency.
Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday. It had 216 passengers and 12 crew on board, including three pilots.
An Air France spokeswoman said there had been no radio contact with the plane "for a while".
It is reported to have disappeared 300km (186 miles) north-east of the Brazilian city of Natal.
Brazilian air force spokesman Col Henry Munhoz told Brazilian TV it had failed to be picked up by radar on the Cape Verde Islands on its way across the Atlantic.
"Air force planes left Fernando de Noronha and are flying towards Europe to start the search for the missing plane," he said.
Airport authorities have set up a crisis centre at Charles de Gaulle.
An Air France official told AFP that people awaiting the flight would be received in a special area at the airport's second terminal.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been informed of the incident and has expressed his deep concern, his office said.
He has demanded that the relevant authorities do everything they can to find the plane and "shed light on the circumstances surrounding its disappearance as rapidly as possible".
This is the first major incident in Brazilian air space since a Tam flight crashed in Sao Paulo in July 2007 killing 199 people.
Social Plugin