“Missing” jet debris found (updated)

Update (5.45pm):

Braziliain officials confirmed that the wreckage found this morning floating in the Atlantic does belong to Flight 447.

Defence Minister Nelson Jobim gave few details but said that debris of the doomed flight was spread out over a three-mile strip roughly 400 miles off the Brazilian coast. "The plane went down" said Jobim who added that none of the 200+ passengers and crew have been located. (Sources via MSNBC and BBC News).

Original Post:

It appears as if the worse has occurred for an Air France flight gone missing since Sunday night.

Brazilian officials claimed that they may’ve located the wreckage of Flight 447 several hundred miles off the country’s coast.

Air Force spokesman Jorge Amaral said in a televised broadcast that airplane seats and other debris were found floating in the ocean waters along what is believed to be the jet's flight path, wire services reported. The debris was found about 390 miles (650 kilometers) northeast of the Brazilian archipelago of Fernando de Noronha. Some of it was white in color, as was the missing plane, Air France Flight 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

However, Amaral said it was not immediately known whether the debris came from the missing plane. Authorities will need to find a serial number or other identifying information in order to make that determination.

In the meantime, speculation continues as to what could’ve caused the Airbus A330 to lose communication and drop off the radar. The plane was said to have been hit by lightning and encountered heavy turbulence though Air France officials have yet to pinpoint a precise cause. The pilots reportedly had extensive flight experience with the chief pilot logging over 1100 hours on Airbus 330 jets.

The families and loved ones of the 228 people on Flight 447 continue to await the fate of the apparently doomed aircraft. The passengers and crew were of 32 different nationalities; 59 of them were Brazilian and 72 were French.

Online Sources- AFP, New York Times, Washington Post, UPI, The Latin Americanist
Image- AFP