All 228 feared dead on missing jet
All 228 people on board a passenger airliner, including a baby and seven children, are feared dead after the plane went missing over the Atlantic Ocean.
Air France said its Airbus A330 aircraft flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris had run into stormy weather with strong turbulence around four hours into the flight.
As Brazilian air force planes continued to search for the missing aircraft, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he feared there may have been Britons aboard.
The Foreign Office has yet to confirm if any UK nationals had been on the flight, which left Rio at 11.03pm UK time on Sunday and had been due to arrive at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at around 10.15am on Monday.
Air France said the plane, whose wings were made in Britain by Airbus A340, may have been struck by lightning.
Aviation experts said turbulence and electrical problems were most unlikely to bring down a large passenger plane, while aircraft were well protected against lightning strikes.
But they pointed to turbulence as the cause of a BOAC (later British Airways) crash in Japan in 1966 and to an electrical problem leading to a catastrophic fire which resulted in a Swissair plane going down off Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1998 with the loss of 229 lives.
Speaking about the latest incident, David Learmount, of Flight International magazine, said: "An event like this is the kind the aviation world hoped it would not see again, because it involves a world-class carrier flying the latest generation of airliner, and it occurred en route, not during take-off or landing in difficult weather.
"It's a chilling reminder that nothing is impossible, however unthinkable."
Air France expressed its "deepest sympathy" to the relatives and friends of the 216 passengers and 12 crew. It has opened freephone numbers reserved for relatives and friends. They are 0800 800 812 in France, 0800 881 20 20 in Brazil and + 33 1 57 02 10 55 for calls from all other countries.
