Air France flight 447 – plane missing from air – suspected crash

Air France flight 447 missing

Air France flight 447 with 228 people on board was presumed to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Monday after hitting heavy turbulence on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

Air France said the Airbus flew into stormy weather four hours after its scheduled take-off from the Brazilian city and shortly afterwards sent an automatic message reporting electrical faults. Several of the plane’s mechanisms had malfunctioned, preventing it from making contact with air traffic controllers.

Flight AF 447 left Rio de Janeiro on Sunday at 7 p.m. (2200 GMT) and had been expected to land at Paris’s Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport on Monday at 11:15 a.m. (0915 GMT). 216 passengers were on board, including seven children and one baby, and 12 crew members.

The plane was an Airbus 330-200 powered with General Electric engines. If the plane is confirmed to have crashed, it would be the first time an A330 has been lost during an operational airline flight. Air France said the plane had 18,870 flight hours on the clock and went into service in April 2005. Its last underwent maintenance in a hangar in April this year.

Air France on its website has confirmed the nationalities of the passengers who have lost their life.

Air France has also established a special toll-free number for the attention of relatives and friends of passengers who may have been on board. They can use this number to obtain information on whether or not a member of their family or friends was on board.

Phone number reserved for relatives and friends

0800 800 812 in France,
0800 881 20 20 in Brazil,
and + 33 1 57 02 10 55 for calls from all other countries.

NB: We ask journalists not to call this number, which is reserved for relatives and close friends.