MOSCOW, June 2 (RIA Novosti) - French and Brazilian planes and warships are continuing to search the area of the Atlantic Ocean where an Air France passenger plane is believed to have crashed with 228 passengers and crew on board.
Air France CEO Pierre-Henry Gourgeon told reporters that crews flying over the area, roughly halfway between Brazil and Africa, have narrowed down their search radius to a few dozen nautical miles. France does not expect any survivors to be found.
Air France Flight 447, en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, sent an automatic signal to airline maintenance computers at 02:14 GMT on Monday indicating several technical failures. No contact was established with the crew.
The Brazilian consul in Paris said that finding traces of the plane was a daunting task.
"They are hoping they can find debris, pieces, lifejackets that eventually float, but that takes some time," Maria Celina Rodrigues told the Associated Press.
The missing passengers include 61 French nationals, 58 Brazilians, 26 Germans, and citizens of 29 other countries. Seven children and one baby were on the plane.
One Russian, Andrei Kiselyov, is believed to have been on board. The Russian Embassy in Paris told RIA Novosti on Tuesday that officials "do not yet have definite confirmation of his citizenship," but that the report was probably correct.
Brazil has sent three warships and seven Air Force planes to help in the search operation, aided by satellite data.
Brazilian Air Force spokesman Col Jorge Amaral told reporters that military planes were investigating a commercial pilot's report that he had sighted bright spots on the ocean surface below the Air France jet's flight path.
"There is information that the pilot of a TAM [Brazilian airline] aircraft saw several orange spots on the ocean... After arriving in Brazil, the pilot heard of the disappearance, and said he thought those spots on the ocean were fire," he said.
If the deaths are confirmed, the disaster will prove the worst in Air France's 75-year history. The airline's last major tragedy was a Concorde crash in July 2000, in which 109 people died.
