UNDATED (WVLT) Sky News in Britain is reporting that a pilot from Brazil-based TAM Airlines reported seeing what they thought was fire on the ocean near where Air France Flight 447 disappeared early Monday morning.

Sky News reports a Brazilian Air Force spokesman said: "There is information that the pilot of a TAM aircraft saw several orange points on the ocean while flying over the region... where the Air France plane disappeared.

"After arriving in Brazil, the pilot found out about the disappearance and said that he thought those points on the ocean were fire."

228 people were on board the Airbus 330 operated by Air France. Rescue personnel say they do not have much hope of finding any survivors aboard the jet they say probably went down in the Atlantic.

Air France operations received several automatic urgent messages from the flight as it went through severe turbulence caused by thunderstorms.

One pointed toward an electrical short circuit, a second said the plane had lost pressurization.

Brazil, Spain, France and other nations are searching for any sign of the jetliner.

Two Americans, identified by family members as Michael Harris, 60, and his wife, Anne, 54, are feared lost in the incident.

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