'Little chance of finding survivors' on missing airliner
- 00:01:03
- ITN
'Little chance of finding survivors' on missing airliner
Five Britons were among 126 passengers and 12 crew on board an Air France plane feared to have crashed en route to Paris from Rio. Flight AF 447, with 126 men, 82 women, seven children and one infant on board, was "well advanced" over the Atlantic Ocean when it disappeared from radar around three-and-a-half hours after its 7pm take-off. According to a list posted on Air France's website, passengers included 58 Brazilians, 61 French, 26 Germans, nine Italians, nine Chinese, six Swiss, five Britons, five Lebanese, four Hungarians, three Irish citizens, three Norwegians, two Spanish and two Americans as well as 18 other nationalities. The A330 200 is feared to have crashed around 1,500 miles northeast of the Brazilian city having sent an automated message reporting an electrical fault 15 minutes after experiencing strong turbulence. The Brazilian Air Force is searching for the jet near the island of Fernando de Noronha - an archipelago consisting of 21 islands located about 220 miles off the coast of the South American country. Air France chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgon said earlier: "We are probably facing an air catastrophe." The airline said its plane had 18,870 flight hours on the clock and went into service in April 2005. It last underwent maintenance in a hangar in April this year. At Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, tearful family and friends were led away by airport staff after they arrived expecting to greet their loved ones. In Rio, about 20 relatives arrived at Galeao airport seeking information after hearing news of its disappearance. Bernardo Souza, who said his brother and sister-in-law were on the flight, complained he had received no details from Air France. "I had to come to the airport but when I arrived I just found an empty counter," he said. "With a lack of information, it is even more worrying." Air France has opened a telephone hotline for friends and relatives of those on board - 00 33 15702 1055 for callers outside France and 0800 800 812 for inside France. If no survivors are found it will be the worst loss of life involving an Air France plane in the firm's 75-year history. It will also be the first time an A330 has crashed during an operational airline flight. The last major incident involving an Air France plane was in July 2000, when one of its New York-bound Concorde supersonic airliners crashed just after taking off from Charles de Gaulle. All 109 people on board died along with at least four on the ground.
ITN | June 1, 2009
