There is virtually no hope for the 228 people on board a packed Air France jet which went missing over the Atlantic Ocean today, the worst disaster in the airline's history.

Five Britons and two Irish citizens are believed to have been on the flight from Brazil, which Air France said was probably brought down by a lightning strike after hitting a fierce storm.

Flight AF447 took off from Rio de Janeiro at 7.03pm local time yesterday bound for Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, where it was due at 11.15am today (9.15GMT).

Air traffic controllers had their last contact with the aircraft about four hours into the flight, when the pilot said that he had hit severe turbulence. Exactly 15 minutes later, seven hours before it was due in Paris, the aircraft's systems sent automatic error messages reporting multiple electrical faults and, according to a statement from the Brazilian air force, lost cabin pressure.

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Brutal freak turbulence is the most plausible cause of the crash of Air France Flight 447

Charles Bremner

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The combination of the two implied that the Airbus A330-200 - a plane with an excellent safety record - might have simply broken up in the storm. Officials held out little hope of there being any survivors.

"The most likely thing is that the plane was hit by lightning. The plane was in a stormy area with strong turbulence, which provoked problems," said François Brouse, Air France’s director of communications.

"We are probably facing an air catastrophe," added Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, the airline's chief executive. "It's certainly no longer in the air now. It would have run out of fuel."

Nicolas Sarkozy, the French President, tonight said there was a “very small” chance of finding survivors.

Brazilian officials said 60 of those who died were from Brazil and the French minister responsible for transport confirmed that there were at least 40 French people and 25 Germans on the flight. Other reports listed six Danes, five Italians, three Moroccans, two Lebanese and a Portuguese among the passengers, although some may have been counted twice.

Airport officials in Paris reported initially that the airliner had dropped off radar screens at 0600GMT, somewhere between the Azores and the coast of North Africa. In fact, it appears to have come down closer to Brazil, although a search and rescue mission sent out from the Brazilian archipelago of Fernando de Noronha has found no trace of it.

France sent a long-range military reconnaissance plane from a base in Senegal to join the search for wreckage or signals from the Airbus's emergency beacons.

Air France said that the 216 passengers were made up of one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men. It said that the aircraft entered service in 2005 and last had maintenance on April 16.

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