An Air France plane carrying 228 people from Brazil to France has vanished over the Atlantic after a possible lightning strike, airline officials say.
The Airbus sent an automatic message at 0214 GMT, four hours after leaving Rio de Janeiro, reporting a short circuit as it flew through strong turbulence.
It was well over the ocean when it was lost, making Brazilian and French search planes' task more difficult.
Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris has set up a crisis centre.
"We are without a doubt faced with an air disaster," Air France chief executive Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told reporters.
"The entire company is thinking of the families and shares their pain."
Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday. It had 216 passengers and 12 crew on board, including three pilots. The passengers included one infant, seven children, 82 women and 126 men.
Most of those aboard were Brazilians while the others included 40 French people and at least 20 Germans, the French government said.
A number of Italians and Britons are also believed to have been aboard.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport to visit the crisis centre, AFP news agency reports.
'Long search'
The Airbus 330-200 had been expected to arrive in Paris at 1110 local time (0910 GMT).
It made its last radio contact at 0133 GMT (2233 Brazilian time) when it was 565km (360m) off Brazil's north-eastern coast, Brazil's air force said.
The crew said they were planning to enter Senegalese airspace at 0220 GMT and that the plane was flying normally at an altitude of 10,670m (35,000ft) and a speed of 840km/h (520mph).
At 0220, when Brazilian air traffic controllers saw the plane had not made its required radio call saying it was crossing into Senegalese airspace, air traffic control in the Senegalese capital was contacted.
At 0530 GMT, Brazil's air force launched a search-and-rescue mission, sending out a coast guard patrol plane and a specialised air force rescue aircraft.
"The plane might have been struck by lightning - it's a possibility," Francois Brousse, head of communications at Air France, told reporters in Paris.
Douglas Ferreira Machado, head of investigation and accident prevention for Brazil's Civil Aeronautics Agency, said the search would take "a long time".
"It could be a long, sad story," he told Brazil's Globo news. "The black box will be at the bottom of the sea."
France's minister responsible for transportation, Jean-Louis Borloo, ruled out hijacking as a cause of the plane's loss.
'No information'
An Air France official told AFP that people awaiting the flight would be received in a special area at Charles de Gaulle airport's second terminal.
Tearful relatives and friends were led away by airport staff after they arrived expecting to greet passengers.
About 20 relatives of passengers on board the flight arrived at Rio's international airport on Monday morning seeking information.
Bernardo Souza, who said his brother and sister-in-law were on the flight, complained he had received no details from Air France.
"I had to come to the airport but when I arrived I just found an empty counter," he was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
"With a lack of information, it is even more worrying."
Air France has opened a telephone hotline for friends and relatives of people on the plane - 00 33 157021055 for callers outside France and 0800 800812 for inside France.
This is the first major incident in Brazilian air space since a Tam flight crashed in Sao Paulo in July 2007 killing 199 people.
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