By Calvin Palmer
A U.S. geologist and his wife are among the 228 people feared dead after an Air France jet disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean on Sunday evening.
Devon Energy Corp confirmed today that Michael Harris, 60, and his 54-year-old wife, Anne, were on Flight AF 447 from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
Harris was a geologist in Devon Energy’s Rio de Janeiro office and had moved to Brazil from Houston last July, said company spokesman Chip Minty.
Anne Harris was originally from Lafayette, Louisiana. The couple had been married for 16 years.
Brazilian military pilots today spotted wreckage about 400 miles from the Brazilian island of Fernando de Noronha and on the flight path of the missing Air France jet.
An airplane seat, life jacket, metallic debris and signs of aviation fuel were seen in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean floating in two areas about 35 miles apart.
Authorities will not be able to confirm the debris is from Flight AF 447 until it is retrieved from the ocean, said Brazilian Air Force spokesman Jorge Amaral.
Vessels from the Brazilian navy are not expected to arrive in the area until tomorrow.
The Airbus A330-200 disappeared when it ran into severe turbulence.
[Based on reports by newsday.com and the Associated Press.]
