Plane Missing

Brazil-- An Air France jet has gone missing over the Atlantic Ocean en route to Paris.

The Airbus A330 model left Rio De Janeiro at 7pm on Sunday, carrying 228 people when it struck heavy turbulence.

Brazil's Civil Aeronautics Agency officials say air traffic control received an automatic message from the Air France jet indicating that it was having electrical problems. Shortly after controls received the message, the jet disappeared off the northeast coastal region of Brazil, about 1500 miles from Rio De Janeiro.

The flight was scheduled to arrive in Paris at 5:15am. The weather conditions for the flight were clear into the morning.

"It's going to take a long time to carry out this search," said Douglas Ferreira Machado, Head Investigator for Brazil's Civil Aeronautics Agency.

Investigators have not ruled a cause yet for the disappearance.

"I would suggest that potentially it went down very quickly and so quickly that the pilot on board didn't have a chance to make that emergency call," said spokesman Yates, adding that the possibilities ranged from mechanical failure to terrorism.