Ocean search for missing Air France plane continue

The Airbus A330 went missing on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris and French President Nicolas Sarkozy said there was little chance of finding any survivors.

France and Brazil sent military aircraft and ships to try to find wreckage on high seas between Brazil and West Africa.

Brazilian carrier TAM said the crew of one of its planes saw "bright spots" on the surface of the ocean, but Brazil's air force said a merchant ship in the area found no signs of burning debris from the Air France jet.

"We will search all night long and keep going through dawn," Colonel Jorge Amaral of the Brazilian air force was quoted by Reuters as saying. "We have to work as if it were possible to find survivors,” he added.

Air France flight 447 left Brazil on Sunday night and lost contact with air traffic controllers in the early hours of Monday morning.

It was carrying 216 passengers of 32 nationalities, including seven children and one baby, Air France said. Sixty-one were French citizens, 58 Brazilian, 26 German. Twelve crew members were also on board.

The accident sent a shudder through France and Brazil, which Tuesday were sharing the grief of what appeared to be the worst aviation disaster in a decade, and the worst in Air Frances 70-year history.

TURKISH HARPER AMONG PASSENGERS

A Turkish passenger was also among the passengers on board the missing plane, officials said late on Monday.

Fatma Ceren Necipoglu, 37, an academician at Anadolu University in the central province of Eskisehir and harper, was on her way back home after performing in two concerts in Rio, according to reports.

Finding the remains of the aircraft was key to elucidating the enigma of what caused it to come down out in a stretch of water beyond the reach of land-based radar.