A system failure following a short circuit is thought to
have caused anAir FranceAirbus to crash into the
Atlantic Ocean today.
The aircraft disappeared off radar screens between Brazil and
France after it hit thunderstorms at around 3am BST.
On board were 216 passengers and 12 crew. The passengers
included 126 men and 82 women, seven children and a baby.
An automated message was received at 2.14am informing air
traffic controllers of a failure of the electrical system.
Air France says it has sent all the information it has on the
disappearance of the flight to the French Accident Investigation
Bureau for civil aviation, which deals with technical
investigations into accidents.
The company said, "An automatic message was received from the
aircraft at 2:14am (4:14am in Paris) indicating a failure in the
electric circuit in an area a long way off the coast."
The aircraft was powered with General Electric CF6-80E engines,
and its last maintenance check was on 16 April 2009.