French airliner missing off Brazil

Paris, June 1 (DPA) An Air France airliner with 228 people on board has gone missing off Brazil, French media reports said Monday.

They said the Airbus 330 was on a flight to Paris from Rio de Janeiro and contact was lost when the plane was over the Atlantic.

Authorities at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris have set up a crisis centre to deal with enquiries from relatives of those on board.

The French radio meanwhile reported that a search had begun for the aircraft in the region of its flight path off the Brazilian coast.

Brazilian air traffic controllers meanwhile confirmed that the airliner had disappeared from radar screens and that a search had begun off Brazil's northeast coast, the Globonews broadcaster reported. It said there were 216 passengers and 12 crew on board.