"The chances of finding any survivors are very slim," French President Nicolas Sarkozy said in a statement at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport following his meeting with relatives of passengers on the plane on Monday.
The Air France jet was probably hit by lightning and suffered an electric failure while flying through the Atlantic storm, Air France said earlier in the day.
Air France announced Monday that victims aboard the airplane came from 32 countries, including 58 Brazilians, 61 French, 26 Germans, 9 Chinese and 9 Italians.
The A330-200, which was developed to compete with the Boeing 767-300ER, is a large-capacity, wide-body, twin-engine, medium-to-long-range commercial passenger airliner.
A search was conducted by Brazil's air force near the Brazilian island of Fernando do Noronha, around the area where the airplane disappeared, about 370 km from the mainland and 2 400km from Rio de Janeiro.
Meanwhile, France is seeking US satellite assistance to help locate the wreckage. The first military ship wasn't expected to reach the area where the plane vanished until Wednesday.
Sarkozy said that he felt "extremely worried" and demanded the air authorities spare no effort in their search efforts and in finding the reason behind it as quickly as possible.
Transport and environment ministers have been sent to monitor the situation at Charles de Gaulle airport.
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