Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Monday that he "shares the pain of the relatives and friends of the victims" from the flight 447 of Air France that disappeared on Sunday night when it was flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

The Air France airliner, an Airbus 330-200 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 7:00 PM (2200 GMT).

Most of the 228 people aboard the plane were Brazilians, according to French media.

Lula said in a communique published on Monday that he has ordered the Brazilian Defense Ministry to send planes and ships to the area of the accident and to take all necessary measures to intensify the rescue.

"I also let (French president Nicolas) Sarkozy and his people know the sorrow of Brazilian people and we agreed Brazilian and French teams will cooperate with the largest possible degree of coordination at these moments of uncertainty and tragedy," Lula said.

Lula, who is visiting Central America, requested Vice President Jose Alencar to reach Rio de Janeiro to give support to the relatives of the people aboard the plane and to let them know that the Brazilian government is making all possible efforts to find the plane.

Air France said on Monday that the plane missing over the Atlantic Ocean was probably hit by lightning and suffered an electrics failure while flying through an Atlantic storm.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2009)