New Delhi: A day after Air France confirmed that its jet had crashed into the Atlantic Ocean with 228 people on board, officials have ruled out any hope of survivors.
If no survivors are found it will be the worst loss of life involving an Air France plane in the firm's 75-year history.
The plane, a state-of-the-art Airbus A330-200, was flying from Rio de Janero to Paris. The flight lost contact with air traffic control after flying into a severe thunderstorm.
Search operations continued through the night and now there is the first indication of burning wreckage being spotted.
A pilot from Brazil's airline TAM may have spotted a burning piece of wreckage of the passenger plane that disappeared early Monday morning. He saw the spots approximately 1300 km from the Brazilian coast.
The Brazilian Air Force confirmed late Monday that the pilot saw "orange-colored spots" on the Atlantic Ocean, about 40 minutes after the last contact between Air France Flight 447 and Brazil's air control centre.
Investigators are now searching for more information to confirm whether these "glowing spots" are the burning pieces of the plane wreckage, the Brazilian Air Force said.