The Air France airbus that disappeared this morning over the Atlantic after leaving Rio de Janeiro is believed to have been hit by lighting, CNN reports. The Paris-bound plane with 228 people aboard vanished off the coast of Cape Verde Islands due to electrical problems possibly caused by lightning as it was going through a stormy weather.
According to the Associated Press (AP), "The plane left Brazil radar contact, beyond the Fernando de Noronha archipelago, at 10:48 local time (0148 GMT, 9:48 p.m. EDT)... About a half-hour later, the plane "crossed through a thunderous zone with strong turbulence." It sent an automatic message fourteen minutes later at 0214 GMT (10:14 p.m. EDT Sunday) reporting electrical failure and a loss of cabin pressure."
AP also reports that "Air France told Brazilian authorities the last information they heard was that automated message reporting a technical problem before the plane reached a monitoring station near the Cape Verde islands."
Update: The company that manages airport and airlines safety in Cape Verde, ASA, just confirmed that Air France Airbus A330 did not reach Cape Verdean air space and may have gone down in the Atlantic Ocean area near Fernando de Noronha archipelago, off the coast of Brazil.
Updated video: Missing plane probably crashed into Atlantic (Source: CNN.com, 7:42pm EDT, Monday June 1, 2009)
Video: Passenger Plane Missing (Source: CNN.com, 6:04am EDT, Monday June 1, 2009)
