‘No Nigerian on board French ill-fated plane’- As airline releases victims list

Shola Adekola, Lagos - 03.06.2009

AIR France, owners of the ill-fated A330 plane that disappered from the radar scope on Monday has confirmed that no Nigerian was among the nationalities in the crashed aircraft.

Spokeswoman for the airline in Nigeria, Mrs. Moyo Areola, confirmed this, even as she released the nationalities on board the A330 aircraft, which was purported to have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday night after the Paris bound plane took off from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.

Among the victims were two Moroccans and a Gambian. The list, according to the airline, was based on the information provided by the Brazilian authorities.

Among the victims were: two Americans, one Argentine, an Austrian, a Belgian, 58 Brazilians, five Britons, one Canadian, nine Chinese, one Croatian, one Danish, one Dutch, an Estonian, a Pilipino, 61 French, one Gambian, 26 Germans, and four Hungarians.

Others were three Irish, four Hungarian, one Icelandic, nine Italians, five Lenanese, two Moroccans, three Norwegians, two Polish, a Romanian, three Slovakians, two Spanish, one Swedish, six Swiss, and one Turkish.

Areola said “Air France expresses its deepest sympathy to the relatives and friends of the passengers and crew who were on board this flight,” stressing that the airline was doing its utmost to provide support to relatives and friends. Counselling with physicians and psychologists as well as specially trained Air France volunteers has been set up at the airports of Paris-Charles de Gaulle 2 and Rio de Janeiro.

“Following this,Air France has established a special toll-free number for the attention of relatives and friends of passengers who might have been on board,” stressing that they can use the number to obtain information on whether or not a member of their family or friends was on board.

An Air France jet with 228 people on a flight to Paris, disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean after flying into thunderstorms thus, sending an automated message that the electrical system had failed.