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Plane searchers spot ocean debris
Brazilian aircraft searching for an Air France jet which went missing with 228 people aboard in an Atlantic storm have spotted debris on the ocean.
Some oil, a plane seat and other items were sighted 650km (400 miles) north-east of Brazil’s Fernando de Noronha island, the Brazilian air force said.
The find can only be confirmed once the items are retrieved and the first boat is not due to arrive until Wednesday.
The jet was heading from Brazil to Paris when it vanished early on Monday.
 |  It [the plane] might have tried to make a turn, maybe to return to Fernando de Noronha  Col Jorge Amaral Brazilian air force spokesman  |
Air force spokesman Col Jorge Amaral said the debris had been spotted by search planes early on Tuesday.
“At approximately 0530 Brazilian time [0830 GMT], a C-130 military aircraft spotted some debris in two locations approximately 60km apart from each other,” he said.
“In this area, they saw an orange buoy, an airplane seat, small white pieces, an airplane turbine as well as oil and kerosene.
“The search is continuing because it’s very little material in relation to the size [of the Airbus A330].”
Officials, he said, needed “a piece that might have a serial number, some sort of identification” to be sure it came from the missing jet.
Brazilian air force’s Col Jorge Amaral confirming the sighting – translated
French Defence Minister Herve Morin has stressed there is still “no evidence whatsoever” as to the cause of the plane’s loss
“We cannot, by definition, exclude a terrorist attack, because terrorism is the main threat for all Western democracies,” he added.
‘Life jacket’
Plane crews from Brazil, France and other countries had narrowed their search to a zone half-way between Brazil and west Africa, hoping to pick up signals from the Airbus’s beacons.
| TIMELINE  Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday Airbus A330-200 carrying 216 passengers and 12 crew Contact lost 0130 GMT Missed scheduled landing at 1110 local time (0910 GMT) in Paris |
Col Amaral was also quoted by the Associated Press as saying a life jacket had been spotted amid the debris.
“The locations where the objects were found are towards the right of the point where the last signal of the plane was emitted,” he told reporters in Rio.
“That suggests that it might have tried to make a turn, maybe to return to Fernando de Noronha, but that is just a hypothesis.”
Searchers now planned to focus their efforts on collecting the debris and trying to identify it, he said.
A French search plane flying out of Senegal on Monday was hindered by stormy conditions over the ocean.
Spanish and Senegalese aircraft have also been involved in the search effort.
Electrical failures
In his last radio message, at about 0200 GMT on Monday, the captain of Flight AF 447 reported entering turbulence, French media say.
 Irish doctor Aisling Butler, 26, was flying back with two friends |
Up to a dozen reports of electrical failures were sent automatically from the plane before it vanished over the ocean just after.
Most of the missing people are Brazilian or French but they include a total of 32 nationalities. Five Britons and three Irish citizens are among them.
Crisis centres have been set up at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Rio’s Tom Jobim international airport.
One of the Brazilians on board was Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, a direct descendent of the last Brazilian emperior, Dom Pedro II, a spokesman for the family said.
Three young Irish doctors were also aboard, returning from two-week holiday in Brazil. Aisling Butler’s father John paid tribute to his 26-year-old daughter, from Roscrea, County Tipperary.
“She was a truly wonderful, exciting girl,” he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
“She never flunked an exam in her life – nailed every one of them – and took it all in her stride.”
Source: BBC
June 2, 2009