Seven people were feared dead after an Airbus A320 passenger jet crashed off the coast of southern France during a training flight yesterday afternoon .

Dominique Alzeari, assistant prosecutor in Perpignan, told reporters that there was “no hope of finding survivors” after the Air New Zealand aircraft plunged into the Mediterranean about 12 miles (19km) east of the French city.

The aircraft had been undergoing servicing at EAS Industries in Perpignan and had been flying circuits for 90 minutes before it crashed, an emergency services spokesman said. Officials said two bodies were recovered at sea, and the fuselage had been found.

A rescue operation was mounted involving a surveillance plane, two rescue helicopters and five coastguard vessels. A witness saw the aircraft dive abruptly. As-ger Schubert, spokesman for the German charter firm XL Airways, to whom the aircraft had been leased, said that the two pilots were German and that the five others on board were from New Zealand.

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