Brazilian officials confirmed Tuesday that debris found in the Atlantic Ocean came from an ill-fated Air France jet.
The Airbus 300 went missing Monday some four hours after departing Rio de Janeiro en route to Paris. All 228 passengers and crew are now presumed dead.
Debris, including an airliner seat and life vest, were found in deep ocean waters. Late news from weather officials indicate that the plane likely hit a massive thunderstorm that reached 55,000 feet – higher than a commercial jet can fly – and carried winds of 100 mph.
Groupe Michelin officials in Europe have confirmed that three company executives were aboard the flight. On the passenger manifest were Luiz Roberto Anastacio, 50, who was recently named Michelin’s president for South America; Michelin Brazil IT director Antonio Gueiros; and Christine Pieraerts, a 29-year-old French engineer who was apparently in Brazil on vacation.
Forty-one-year-old Erich Heine, a ThyssenKrupp AG executive, and member of the executive board of the ThyssenKrupp Steel subsidiary, also was on board. Heine was head of its Brazilian venture, which is building a $6.4 billion raw steel mill west of Rio de Janeiro.
UPDATE: Adding to the tragedy, today, news reports out of the U.K. and Australia have said that Air France officials now believe that some of the debris, specifically wooden pallets and a fuel slick, found earlier this week did not come from the missing Airbus jet after all. Rescuers continue to look for the plane’s black box and other evidence that may help determine what happened.
