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Brazil Sends Planes, Ships For Air France
Flight 447 Search
Rio de Janeiro - The
Brazilian government said on Monday that three Air
Force planes and three Navy ships are in route to
take part on the search effort for the Air France
Flight 447, some 1,100 kilometers off the coast of
the Brazilian city of Natal in the country's
northeastern region.
The French government is also helping, with a
military aircraft which took off from Senegal
earlier on Monday.
Due to the remote location, authorities considered
the search "extremely difficult."
According to several international treaties, a large
part of the Atlantic Ocean is under Brazil's
responsibility, which is why the country is in
charge of the search efforts.
The Air France plane, an Airbus carrying 228 people,
left Rio on Sunday at 7:30 p.m. local time, and
should have landed in Paris on Monday morning.
Family members and friends of the likely plane crash
victims are gathered at the Rio International
Airport Tom Jobim and in a hotel in Rio's Barra
neighborhood where Air France has set up a reference
center. The company has yet not released the list of
passengers.
The mayor of Rio Eduardo Paes is at the airport.
Marcelo Parente, Rio's government chief of staff, is
reportedly among the likely victims. The local press
also reports that Michelin's President for South
America, Luis Roberto Anastacio, and a member of
Brazil's former royal family, Pedro Luiz de Orleans
e Braganca, were also flying the plane.
It is reported that Erich Heine, chairman of the
board of Thyssen Krupp's Companhia Siderurgica do
Atlantico (TKCSA), which will be Latin America's
largest steel mill complex, is among the likely
victims of Air France's Flight 447.
The plane took off from the international Airport of
Rio do Janeriro on Sunday and it was flying to
Paris, France.
The plane found a turbulence zone after leaving the
Brazilian aerial control area at 11 p.m. local time,
and its last contact with ground was at 11:14 p.m.
Brazil's time. |
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