Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said debris found in the south Atlantic is without a doubt from the Air France flight that disappeared this week with 228 people on board. Brazilian search planes spotted airplane seats, metal parts, and a jet fuel slick floating Tuesday about 650 kilometers off the Brazilian coast.

Jobim said a close examination by two Brazilian naval vessels confirmed the floating wreckage came from Air France Flight 447. There was no trace of any survivors.

The big Airbus jet disappeared from radar early Monday, about four hours after taking off from Rio de Janeiro Sunday night on its way to Paris.

The cause of the crash remains a mystery. Before it vanished from radar, the plane transmitted automatic signals reporting multiple failures in its electric and pressurization system. Air traffic controllers heard no distress call -- or any other unusual message -- from the pilots, however.

The plane's flight path took it across an equatorial zone where weather systems collide and often spawn severe thunders torms. Modern airliners usually have no trouble passing through such weather conditions.

France is sending deep-diving, unmanned submarines to search for the jet's flight data recorders. The ocean in the area where the plane apparently went down could be up to 5,000-meters-deep.



Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.