Air France has confirmed that five Brits and three Irish people were on board the Airbus 330 that vanished over the Atlantic Ocean.
Oil worker Arthur Coakley, 61, of Whitby, North Yorkshire and three Irish doctors, Aisling Butler, of Roscrea, Co Tipperary, Jane Deasy, of Dublin, and Eithne Walls, originally from Belfast, are among the passengers on flight 447 which disappeared en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on Sunday night.
Search planes and ships have been scouring the huge area of ocean where the plane could be, thought to be three times the size of Europe, but French president Nicolas Sarkozy has admitted that the hope of finding any survivors are “very small”.
Some 228 passengers boarded the flight on Sunday including at least seven children and one baby. The worst commercial air disaster for eight years, the incident unfurled when the plane sent an automatic signal saying some electrics had failed. Not long afterwards it lost contact and was never heard of again.
The passenger list also includes 61 French, 58 Brazilians and 32 other nationalities.
Mr Coakley’s wife, Patricia, said that her husband was not even due to take the fated flight 447, his travel plans having been altered three times.She also criticised Air France for being less than clear about who was and who wasn’t on the plane.
Anyone wishing to find out about friends or relatives who might have been on the plane should contact 0033157021055.
By Dinah Hatch
