Brazilian air force finds possible debris of missing Air France plane

The items found included a seat from a plane, a life jacket, bits of white material, a cylinder and some oil and kerosine slicks, according to a Brazilian air force statement.  

The "small remains" were located 650 kilometers northeast of Brazil's Fernando do Noronha island, AFP reported.

There were no signs of life in two sightings of separate debris areas about 60 kilometers apart, air force spokesman, Jorge Amaral, was quoted by AP as telling reporters.

"The locations where the objects were found are towards the right of the point where the last signal of the plane was emitted," Amaral said. "That suggests that it might have tried to make a turn, maybe to return to Fernando de Noronha, but that is just a hypothesis."

It could not immediately be confirmed that the debris and seats were from Air France flight AF 447, he said, adding that officials need "a piece that might have a serial number, some sort of identification" to be sure it belongs to the missing airliner.

MORE THAN 24-HRS PASS

France and Brazil sent military aircraft and ships to try to find wreckage on high seas between Brazil and West Africa after the Airbus A330 went missing on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on Monday.

Air France flight 447 left Brazil on Sunday night and lost contact with air traffic controllers in the early hours of Monday morning.

It was carrying 216 passengers of 32 nationalities, including seven children and a baby, Air France said. Sixty-one were French citizens, 58 Brazilian, 26 German. Twelve crew members were also a board the flight.

The accident sent a shudder through France and Brazil, which Tuesday were sharing the grief of what appeared to be the worst aviation disaster in a decade, and the worst in Air France’s 70-year history.

TURKISH HARPIST AMONG PASSENGERS

A Turkish passenger was also among the passengers on board the missing plane, officials said late on Monday.

Fatma Ceren Necipoglu, 37, an academician at Anadolu University in the central province of Eskisehir and harpist, was returning home after performing in two concerts in Rio, according to reports.

Finding the remains of the aircraft was key to determining what caused the flight to come down in a stretch of water beyond the reach of land-based radar.

The lack of answers has given rise to several hypotheses, including the Air France's suggestion that its plane was hit by lightning which somehow knocked out its systems -- despite modern aircraft being built to survive such a relatively common phenomenon.

A consensus was forming that a sequence of problems must have been to blame -- but what, exactly, would have to be gleaned from the planes black boxes, if they can be found.

Photo is an archive image.