BRAZIL: Vice President Jose Alencar says a passenger plane reported seeing fiery object in Atlantic

Record ID: 204748

  • Title: BRAZIL: Vice President Jose Alencar says a passenger plane reported seeing fiery object in Atlantic
  • Date: 4th June 2009
  • Summary: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (JUNE 01, 2009) (REUTERS) (CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY) WOMAN WHOSE DAUGHTER AND SON-IN-LAW WERE ABOARD THE AIR FRANCE PLANE, LEAVING AIRPORT'S CRISIS CENTRE ESCORTED BY A DOCTOR BRAZIL'S VICE PRESIDENT JOSE ALENCAR ARRIVING AT AIRPORT (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) BRAZIL'S VICE PRESIDENT JOSE ALENCAR, SAYING: "A TAM airlines plane from Brazil supposed
  • Embargoed: 19th June 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVADQ1GTUTVGU1VVREW61YQAZOSY
  • Story Text: Brazil's Vice President Jose Alencar says a TAM airlines plane reported seeing an object on fire in the Atlantic Ocean as fate of Air France jet remains unknown.
    The pilots of a TAM airlines flight that landed in Rio de Janeiro on Monday (June 1) morning said they saw an object on fire in the Atlantic Ocean. Brazil's Vice President Jose Alencar spoke as he visited Rio's international airport to meet relatives of passengers on board an Air France jet missing with 228 people on board.
    Brazil's Air Force confirmed that the Brazilian carrier's crew members reported to have seen "orange spots" over the Atlantic Ocean during a flight from Europe to Brazil.
    "A TAM airlines plane from Brazil supposedly saw something on fire in the Atlantic Ocean. This was an airplane that landed today," Alencar told reporters before meeting with passengers' relatives in Rio's international airport.
    Alencar said President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva asked him to offer the government's condolences to the passengers' family members. Lula went to El Salvador on Sunday for President Mauricio Funes' inauguration.
    "The government and all ministries are available to help the families, because in case there is anything else we can do, we will. We're sad with what happened, but the French government is also involved, taking part in the searches," said Alencar.
    The carrier has said 216 passengers and 12 crew members were on board the flight that went missing on Sunday night over the Atlantic Ocean.
    Military planes took off from the island of Fernando de Noronha off Brazil's northeast coast to look for it and the Brazilian navy sent three ships to help in the search.
    France sent one of its air force planes from west Africa.
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