France thanks Morocco for efforts to shed light on disappearance of A-330

    "We wish to thank all countries that contribute in the current international efforts, which aim to find the plane and shed light on its disappearance," Chevallier said at a press briefing, adding that Morocco contributes in the exchange of information relating to air traffic control.

    In this respect, Chevallier said that "In the A-330 flight plan, four air traffic control towers are potentially concerned, namely those of Brazil, Morocco, Spain and France."

    Three Moroccan nationals were on board Air France Airbus A330 plane, which went missing between Brazil and France with 216 passengers and 12 crew members on board.

    The three Moroccans are two veterinary surgeons identified as Fouad Haddour and Rajae Tazi Moukha and a veterinary technician, Ahmed Faouzi.

    The Air France airbus, which was supposed to land on Monday at the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport by 11 a.m., local time, was carrying 73 French nationals (61 passengers and 12 crew members), 58 Brazilians and 26 Germans.

    The plane is feared to have crashed into the Atlantic after suffering an electrical failure while flying through a fierce storm, according to French officials.

    Air France's chief executive, Pierre-Henry Gourgeon said on Monday that the search area where the plane disappeared was narrowed to a zone of a few dozen nautical miles half-way between Brazil and west Africa.

    “A succession of a dozen technical messages” sent by the aircraft around 0215 GMT showed that “several electrical systems had broken down” which caused a “totally unprecedented situation in the plane,” Gourgeon said.

    “It is probable that it was shortly after these messages that the impact in the Atlantic came,” he told reporters.

    Gourgeon noted that the plane crossed an area of major turbulence, but declined to make a direct link between weather conditions and the messages.

MAP