Irish Doctors On Board Missing Plane

It has emerged that three female Irish doctors were onboard the French plane that is still missing somewhere in the Atlantic.

The three Irish women have been named as Aisling Butler, from Roscrea, Co Tipperary, Jane Deasy from Dublin and Eithne Walls, from Ballygowan, Co Down.

The three were returning home from a holiday in Brazil on Air France flight AF447 travelling to Paris after graduating together in medicine from Trinity College Dublin two years ago.

The Department of Foreign Affairs has been in touch with the families and has offered assistance.

The search mission has begun in earnest with France and Brazil sending military aircraft and ships out early today to try to find wreckage on the seas between Brazil and West Africa.

A total of 228 passengers and crew aboard the flight, most of which are Brazilian or French, but they include a total of 32 nationalities.

The plane's disappearance has baffled aeronautics experts who are waiting on signals from the ships black box, and the final reports from the plane's computer to be collated.

Using an automated system, the plane had sent a report of a series of electrical fault reports to its headquarters shortly before contact was lost.

French experts believe there is little hope of finding survivors, with French President Nicholas Sarkozy describing the incident as "Ia tragic accident".

See: Air France Aircrash Victim Was NI Woman

(DW/BMcC)