Brazilian aircraft searching for an Air France jet which went missing with 228 people aboard in an Atlantic storm have spotted debris on the ocean.
Some oil, a plane seat and other items were sighted 650km (400 miles) north-east of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha island, the Brazilian air force said.
The find can only be confirmed once the items are retrieved and the first boat is not due to arrive until Wednesday.
The jet was heading from Brazil to Paris when it vanished early on Monday
Irish doctor Aisling Butler, 26, was flying back with two friends
See a map of the plane's route
Air force spokesman Col Jorge Amaral said the debris had been spotted by search planes early on Tuesday.
"At approximately 0530 Brazilian time [0830 GMT], a C-130 military aircraft spotted some debris in two locations approximately 60km apart from each other," he said.
"In this area, they saw an orange buoy, an airplane seat, small white pieces, an airplane turbine as well as oil and kerosene.
"The search is continuing because it's very little material in relation to the size [of the Airbus A330]."
Officials, he said, needed "a piece that might have a serial number, some sort of identification" to be sure it came from the missing jet.
Two Lufthansa jets, which were in the same area as the Air France plane half an hour before it vanished, may provide clues as to what happened, the UN weather agency says.
Brazilian air force's Col Jorge Amaral confirming the sighting - translated
Plane crews from Brazil, France and other countries had narrowed their search to a zone half-way between Brazil and west Africa, hoping to pick up signals from the Airbus's beacons.
Col Amaral was also quoted by the Associated Press as saying a life jacket had been spotted amid the debris.
"The locations where the objects were found are towards the right of the point where the last signal of the plane was emitted," he told reporters in Rio.
"That suggests that it might have tried to make a turn, maybe to return to Fernando de Noronha, but that is just a hypothesis."
Searchers now planned to focus their efforts on collecting the debris and trying to identify it, he said.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said that if the Brazilian reports were confirmed, they "This is a race against time which has begun in extremely difficult meteorological conditions and in a zone where the sea bed is up to 7,000m deep," he told the French parliament.
He added that the cause of the plane's loss had still to be established.
"Our only certainty is that the plane did not send out any distress call but regular automatic alerts for three minutes indicating the failure of all systems," he said.
A French search plane flying out of Senegal on Monday was hindered by stormy conditions over the ocean.
Spanish and Senegalese aircraft have also been involved in the search effort.
Electrical failures
The two Lufthansa aircraft recorded data on prevailing temperatures and winds, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said.
Because the exact accident site was unknown, it was "extremely difficult to say how close they were", WMO official Herbert Puempel told Reuters news agency in Geneva.
"But the observations will certainly be used by the investigating group," he added.
In his last radio message, at about 0200 GMT on Monday, the captain of Flight AF 447 reported entering turbulence, French media say.
Up to a dozen reports of electrical failures were sent automatically from the plane before it vanished over the ocean just after.
Most of the missing people are Brazilian or French but they include a total of 32 nationalities. Five Britons and three Irish citizens are among them.
Crisis centres have been set up at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Rio's Tom Jobim international airport.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will attend a religious service for the families and friends of the missing passengers and crew at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, on Wednesday.
One of the Brazilians on board was Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, a direct descendent of the last Brazilian emperor, Dom Pedro II, a spokesman for the family said.
Three young Irish doctors were also aboard, returning from two-week holiday in Brazil. Aisling Butler's father John paid tribute to his 26-year-old daughter, from Roscrea, County Tipperary.
"She was a truly wonderful, exciting girl," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
"She never flunked an exam in her life - nailed every one of them - and took it all in her stride."
TIMELINE
Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday
Airbus A330-200 carrying 216 passengers and 12 crew
Contact lost 0130 GMT
Missed scheduled landing at 1110 local time (0910 GMT) in Paris
Timeline of Flight AF 447
Air disasters timeline
Mystery of Air France flight
Brazilian aircraft searching for an Air France jet which went missing with 228 people aboard in an Atlantic storm have spotted debris on the ocean.
Some oil, a plane seat and other items were sighted 650km (400 miles) north-east of Brazil's Fernando de Noronha island, the Brazilian air force said.
The find can only be confirmed once the items are retrieved and the first boat is not due to arrive until Wednesday.
The jet was heading from Brazil to Paris when it vanished early on Monday
Irish doctor Aisling Butler, 26, was flying back with two friends
See a map of the plane's route
Air force spokesman Col Jorge Amaral said the debris had been spotted by search planes early on Tuesday.
"At approximately 0530 Brazilian time [0830 GMT], a C-130 military aircraft spotted some debris in two locations approximately 60km apart from each other," he said.
"In this area, they saw an orange buoy, an airplane seat, small white pieces, an airplane turbine as well as oil and kerosene.
"The search is continuing because it's very little material in relation to the size [of the Airbus A330]."
Officials, he said, needed "a piece that might have a serial number, some sort of identification" to be sure it came from the missing jet.
Two Lufthansa jets, which were in the same area as the Air France plane half an hour before it vanished, may provide clues as to what happened, the UN weather agency says.
Brazilian air force's Col Jorge Amaral confirming the sighting - translated
Plane crews from Brazil, France and other countries had narrowed their search to a zone half-way between Brazil and west Africa, hoping to pick up signals from the Airbus's beacons.
Col Amaral was also quoted by the Associated Press as saying a life jacket had been spotted amid the debris.
"The locations where the objects were found are towards the right of the point where the last signal of the plane was emitted," he told reporters in Rio.
"That suggests that it might have tried to make a turn, maybe to return to Fernando de Noronha, but that is just a hypothesis."
Searchers now planned to focus their efforts on collecting the debris and trying to identify it, he said.
French Prime Minister Francois Fillon said that if the Brazilian reports were confirmed, they "This is a race against time which has begun in extremely difficult meteorological conditions and in a zone where the sea bed is up to 7,000m deep," he told the French parliament.
He added that the cause of the plane's loss had still to be established.
"Our only certainty is that the plane did not send out any distress call but regular automatic alerts for three minutes indicating the failure of all systems," he said.
A French search plane flying out of Senegal on Monday was hindered by stormy conditions over the ocean.
Spanish and Senegalese aircraft have also been involved in the search effort.
Electrical failures
The two Lufthansa aircraft recorded data on prevailing temperatures and winds, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said.
Because the exact accident site was unknown, it was "extremely difficult to say how close they were", WMO official Herbert Puempel told Reuters news agency in Geneva.
"But the observations will certainly be used by the investigating group," he added.
In his last radio message, at about 0200 GMT on Monday, the captain of Flight AF 447 reported entering turbulence, French media say.
Up to a dozen reports of electrical failures were sent automatically from the plane before it vanished over the ocean just after.
Most of the missing people are Brazilian or French but they include a total of 32 nationalities. Five Britons and three Irish citizens are among them.
Crisis centres have been set up at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris and Rio's Tom Jobim international airport.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy will attend a religious service for the families and friends of the missing passengers and crew at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, on Wednesday.
One of the Brazilians on board was Pedro Luis de Orleans e Braganca, a direct descendent of the last Brazilian emperor, Dom Pedro II, a spokesman for the family said.
Three young Irish doctors were also aboard, returning from two-week holiday in Brazil. Aisling Butler's father John paid tribute to his 26-year-old daughter, from Roscrea, County Tipperary.
"She was a truly wonderful, exciting girl," he was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
"She never flunked an exam in her life - nailed every one of them - and took it all in her stride."
TIMELINE
Flight AF 447 left Rio at 1900 local time (2200 GMT) on Sunday
Airbus A330-200 carrying 216 passengers and 12 crew
Contact lost 0130 GMT
Missed scheduled landing at 1110 local time (0910 GMT) in Paris
Timeline of Flight AF 447
Air disasters timeline
Mystery of Air France flight
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