Air France – Air France jet carrying 228 passengers from Rio de Janeiro to Paris has possibly gone down in the midst of a thunderstorm and heavy turbulence, over the Atlantic Ocean. Officials fear there’ll be no survivors.

Air France spokesman, Francois Brousse said, “it’s possible” the plane was hit by lightening, but experts doubt that lightening was responsible for downing the plane. The French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, said the prospects of finding survivors are “very small” and “no hypothesis is excluded” in the search for the airplane. He added that France has requested US help in locating the plane with satellite equipment.

Air France flight Disappears - All Feared Lost

The plane, a four-year-old Airbus A330, left Rio on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. with 216 passengers and 12 crew members, bound for Paris. Three hours later, it left Brazil radar contact indicating it was flying normally. Approximately half-hour later, an automatic signal was sent indicating electrical problems while going through strong turbulence. It passed through a thunderous zone at about 10:00 a.m, Sunday, and an automatic message was received fourteen minutes later reporting electrical failure and loss of cabin pressure. That was the last communication sent from the plane. Experts believe the absence of a mayday call meant something happened very quickly.

Authorities are searching the area northeast of the Brazilian coastal city of Natal about 180 miles.

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