Holiday rentals news - Search for missing Air France flight continues - orange 'fire' spots seen in Atlantic

Search for missing Air France flight continues - orange 'fire' spots seen in Atlantic

Five Britons are among the passengers aboard the Air France plane that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean yesterday. Rescuers say there is little hope of finding survivors as the search for the missing aircraft continues.

The Air France flight was en route from Rio de Janeiro to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris when it disappeared from the radar and lost radio contact. According to the BBC, rescue crews have narrowed their search to an area mid way between Brazil and west Africa.

The majority of the 228 missing passengers and crew are Brazilian or French, although a total of 32 nationalities were aboard the Air France flight AF 447. This includes five Britons and three Irish citizens.

It is believed that the plane was hit by lightning during a thunderstorm - up to a dozen reports of electrical failures were sent from the plane before it disappeared. Pierre-Henry Gourgeon, Air France's chief executive, said that "a succession of a dozen technical messages" indicated that "several electrical systems had broken down", causing a "totally unprecedented situation in the plane".

Planes and ships from many nations are involved in the search and rescue mission to find the plane's wreckage, reports The Guardian. French officials have said there is little hope of finding survivors: "It's a tragic accident. The chances of finding survivors are tiny," said France's president, Nicolas Sarkozy, at Charles de Gaulle airport.

It is feared that it could be days before the wreckage of the plane is found: "They are hoping they can find debris, pieces, lifejackets that eventually float, but that takes some time," said Maria Celina Rodrigues, the Brazilian consul in Paris. Douglas Ferreira Machado, the head of Brazilian air crash investigations, echoed the sentiment: "It's going to take a long time to carry out this search. It could be a long, sad story. The black box will be at the bottom of the sea."

It has been widely reported in the media that TAM, Brazil's largest airline, spotted what it thought was a fire in the Atlantic Ocean along the Air France flight's route. A spokesman for the Brazilian Air Force said: "There is information that the pilot of a TAM aircraft saw several orange points on the ocean while flying over the region...where the Air France flight disappeared."

If, as feared, no survivors are found, the incident will be the worst loss of life involving an Air France plane in the airline's history.

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