法航一架载有228人的客机失踪 机上9名中国人
Plane with 9 Chinese Vanishes, Chances of Surviving Very Slim
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France and Brazil on Monday dispatched military aircraft for a search on a vast Atlantic Ocean area where an Air France jet carrying 228 people may have come down.
The planes have started a thorough scouring of areas possible to find the wreckage although officials have said there were little chances for the safe return of any survivors on board the Airbus A330-200.
"The chances of finding any survivors are very slim," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport following his meeting with relatives of passengers on the plane on Monday.
The Air France jet was probably hit by lightning and suffered an electrics failure while flying through an Atlantic storm, Air France said earlier in the day.
"The most likely thing is that the plane was hit by lightning. The plane was in a stormy area with strong turbulence, which provoked problems," said Francois Brouse, the director of communications of Air France.
Air France announced Monday that victims aboard the airplane came from 32 countries, including 58 Brazilians, 61 French, 26 Germans, 9 Chinese and 9 Italians.
The airplane, bound for Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, lost contact with the control center shortly after its takeoff from Rio de Janeiro on Sunday at 7 p.m. (2200 GMT). It was expected to arrive in Paris on Monday at 11:15 a.m. local time (0915 GMT).
Earlier, Air France said in a statement that the jet "crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence" at around 0200 GMT Monday, and "an automatic message was received at 0214 GMT signaling electrical circuit malfunction."
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国际在线报道（记者何滨）：法国航空公司一架载有228人的客机6月1日在大西洋上空失踪。目前搜寻工作正在进行。截至记者发稿时，仍未发现失踪客机。法国总统萨科齐称，目前机上乘客生还的希望已经“非常渺茫”。
法航1日发表公报说，该公司一架航班号为ＡＦ447的空客Ａ330－200客机当天凌晨从巴西里约热内卢飞往巴黎途中在大西洋上空失踪。公报说，这架客机于格林尼治时间5月31日22点（北京时间6月1日6点）从里约热内卢机场起飞，计划于格林尼治时间6月1日上午9点10分抵达法国巴黎戴高乐机场。但客机在起飞后4个小时遭遇强烈气流。地面随后收到由客机自动发出的电路故障信息，这是客机与地面的最后一次联系。
据法航公布的数据，失踪客机上共有216名乘客，包括7名儿童和1名婴儿，另有机组人员12人。法航还根据巴西相关部门提供的信息公布了机上乘客以及机组人员的国籍情况，失踪客机上216名乘客共来自32个国家。其中法国乘客61人，巴西乘客58人和德国乘客26人。还有9名乘客来自中国。此外，机组12名成员全部来自法国。
法航说，失踪客机于2005年4月18日首次运营，累计飞行时间近1.9万小时，最近一次维修时间为2009年4月16日。失踪客机的飞行员有1.1万小时的飞行经验，驾驶同类客机已有1700小时，飞行经验丰富。截至目前，这架航班失踪的确切原因尚不明确。法航发言人说，客机失踪前很有可能被闪电击中。他说，客机飞入了雷雨区并且遭遇强烈气流，引发了客机故障。
获悉法航客机失踪的消息后，巴西空军已派出飞机在巴西东北部的大西洋海域展开搜寻工作。与此同时，法国军方也出动巡逻机加入搜寻，但尚未发现任何线索。法国国务部长兼环境与可持续发展部长让－路易?博洛说，根据时间推算，即使客机一直在空中飞行，油料应该也已耗尽，因此客机可能已坠海失事。法国民航部门官员也表示，客机安然无恙已“没有希望”。法航首席执行官皮埃尔－亨利?古尔容在巴黎举行的新闻发布会上说，“我们无疑正经历一场空难”。如果机上所有228人全部遇难，这将是法航有史以来死亡人数最多的空难，也是10年多来世界上损失最惨重的空难。
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