Maria Celina Rodrigues (C), consul general of Brazil in France, accepts interviews at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, France, on June 1, 2009. An Air France airliner with 228 people on board missing over the Atlantic Ocean was probably hit by lightning and suffered an electrics failure while flying through an Atlantic storm, Air France said on Monday. [Xinhua]

Bernaldo, the brother of Ciciaco who was late for the missing airliner, accepts interviews at the Rio de Janeiro International Airport, Brazil, on June 1, 2009. An Air France airliner with 228 people onboard missing over the Atlantic Ocean after its takeoff from Rio de Janeiro on Monday was probably hit by lightning and suffered an electrics failure while flying through an Atlantic storm, Air France said on Monday. [Xinhua]

Air France's chief executive said on Monday that the missing Air France airliner Airbus A330-200 disappeared in the middle of the waters between Brazilian and African coasts with a circumference of scores of nautical miles.

Air France is heavily struck by the tragedy and all members of the company are in deep grief, Pierre Henri Gourgeon told reporters at Charles de Gaulle airport.

He promised that Air France would try its best to provide material and financial help for the relatives of the missing passengers and crew members.

Speaking of the cause of the accident, Gourgeon said after analyzing the alarming signals sent automatically by the plane, researchers found more than 10 technical messages which showed some parts of the plane had broken down when the plane crashed. And just before the accident occurred, the jet had passed some air currents.

However, it's still too early to say that bad weather was to blame for the mishap, Gourgeon added.

Air France announced Monday that the Air France Airbus A330-200, Flight 447, bound for Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, vanished over the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday at around 0200 GMT with 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board.

(Xinhua News Agency June 2, 2009)