A US Navy P-3C Orion maritime patrol plane will join international search efforts for survivors and debris from Air France Flight 447, which was believed to have crashed, the US Southern Command said on Tuesday.

The aircraft and 21 US crew members arrived in Brazil earlier in the day from its forward operating location in Comalapa Air Base, El Salvador, the command said in a statement.

US Southern Command ordered the operation after Brazilian authorities accepted the command's offer to assist with the search of Air France Flight 447, after air traffic controllers lost contact with the plane while it was en route from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to Paris, France on Sunday.

The command said it also directed a combat rescue officer from Soto Cano Air Base in Honduras to Recife, Brazil, where he will assist the Brazilian Rescue Coordination Center.

The possibility of finding survivors of the Air France Flight 447 is very remote, according to experts.

The plane carried 228 occupants, including eight children; its last contact with the air control authorities was on late Sunday, as it passed over the Fernando de Noronha archipelago.

It is not known yet what caused the disappearance of the Airbus A 330.

Authorities hope to find the plane's "black box" in order to explain the incident.

(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2009)