Mystery deepens over missing jet

FERNANDO DE NORONHA, Brazil: Conflicting clues to the cause of the loss of an Air France jet and the 228 people on board emerged yesterday, deepening the mystery as the hunt for evidence intensified.

A Spanish pilot flying in the same area as the Rio-Paris flight when it plunged into the Atlantic spoke of an "intense flash".

Meanwhile, a report in France suggested the pilots may have been flying at the "wrong speed" to deal with the fierce thunderstorm that they flew into in the early hours of Monday before the airliner's systems suddenly failed.