Planes and ships searched an expanse of the Atlantic Ocean on Tuesday for the wreckage of an Air France jetliner that vanished during a storm with 228 people on board.
The Airbus A330 went missing on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on Monday morning. More than 24 hours later, the chances of finding survivors appeared close to nil and authorities were treating the passenger list as a death toll.
France and Brazil sent military aircraft and ships to try and locate wreckage between Brazil and West Africa.
Brazilian airline TAM said the crew of one of its planes saw "bright spots" on the surface of the ocean, perhaps caused by burning wreckage early Monday. Brazil's air force said a ship in the area indicated had found no signs of debris.
The Air France plane reported flying into heavy turbulence four hours after taking off from Rio and 15 minutes later it generated automatic messages reporting electrical faults.
