Germany hit hard by Air France plane crash

BERLIN, June 2 (UPI) -- Twenty-six Germans were on board the Air France jet that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean.

German officials have not yet confirmed the figure, but several German media sources have reported it, citing Air France sources.

A German TV reporter said Monday on ARD television that he personally knew a family of four that had perished with the plane.

The Airbus A330, headed from Rio de Janeiro to Paris, likely crashed over the Atlantic Sunday night after hitting a wall of tropical thunderstorms. A total of 228 people have gone missing.

Brazilian authorities on Tuesday spotted airplane parts, German mass daily Bild said on its Web site.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Tuesday called the incident a "catastrophe."

French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who rushed to Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport where dozens of people had waited in vain for their relatives, called the crash the worst accident in the history of Air France.

"The chances of finding survivors are very slim," Sarkozy said.