Jet 'downed by huge thunderstorms'

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French President Nicolas Sarkozy told families of those aboard that "prospects of finding survivors are very small".

If all 228 were killed, it would be the deadliest commercial airline disaster since 2001.

The area where the plane - en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris - could have gone down was vast, in the middle of deep Atlantic Ocean waters between Brazil and the coast of Africa.

Brazil's military searched for it off its north-east coast, while the French military scoured the ocean near the Cape Verde Islands off the West African coast.

Mr Sarkozy, speaking at Charles de Gaulle airport, said the reason for the plane's disappearance remained unclear and that "no hypothesis" was excluded.

"I met a mother who lost her son, a fiancee who lost her future husband. I told them the truth," he said.

Sarkozy said "it will be very difficult" to find the plane because the zone where it is believed to have disappeared "is immense".

He said France has asked for help from US satellites to locate the plane.

Chief Air France spokesman Francois Brousse said "it is possible" the plane was hit by lightning, but aviation experts expressed doubt that a bolt of lightning was enough to bring the plane down.