Two dead, five missing as N.Zealand jet crashes into French sea

Rescuers found the body of two crew members but five others were missing Thursday after an Air New Zealand passenger jet plunged into the Mediterranean Sea off France, officials said.

The wreck of the Airbus A320 has been located off the southern city of Perpignan, where it had been undergoing maintenance and from where it had taken off, but there was no sign of any of the five missing crew.

The plane was on a flight to check that it was operating normally when it crashed into the sea, said officials in Perpignan.

A major rescue operation was under way, with a surveillance plane, two rescue helicopters and five ships scouring the seas around the crash site 3.5 nautical miles (2.5 kilometres) from the shore.

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