ANNOUNCEMENT REGARDING AIR FRANCE FLIGHT - DoS

Robert Wood

Deputy Department Spokesman
Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC - June 1, 2009

TRANSCRIPT:11:56 a.m. EDT
MR. WOOD: Okay, Good – well, it’s just about – it’s still good morning. Good morning, everyone. Happy Monday. Welcome to the briefing. I just want to make just some quick points on the Air – the missing Air France aircraft, and then I’m going to turn it over to our Consular affairs – a representative from Consular Affairs is going to talk to you a bit about hurricane season.

Let me just say at this time, we’re unaware of any American citizens on board the missing Air France aircraft. Consular officers are standing by at both airports, in Rio de Janeiro and in Paris. Our embassy in Paris and our Consulate in Rio de Janeiro are working with authorities on multiple fronts to obtain the manifest. And should we determine that any Americans were on board the flight, we will contact their families directly to offer consular assistance. That’s all we have at this time. I will be updating you on this as we get more information.

I would like to turn it over right now to Michele Bond, who is a Deputy Assistant Secretary in our Office of Citizen Services, who will talk to you about hurricane season. And I will come back and we can continue the briefing.

(...)

QUESTION: Robert, can we get back to the announcement that you made (inaudible)?

MR. WOOD: Sure.

QUESTION: You said that people were working on multiple fronts to obtain the manifest, so you don’t actually have a copy of it as yet?

MR. WOOD: At this point, no.

QUESTION: Okay. And when you say you’re unaware of any American nationals who were on board, are you unaware of that since you don’t have a manifest just because no one has called to say, “Hey, I think my relative may have been on there,” or – I mean, how do you know that – how is it that you know that so far, you don’t know of any Americans there? Just because nobody’s reported it to you?

MR. WOOD: Based on all the – based on the information that we’ve received to date, we have no indication as of now that there are any Americans – that there were any Americans on board that missing craft. And so --

QUESTION: But how do you figure that out without the manifest? That’s what I don’t get.

MR. WOOD: Well, again, just – I don’t have all of the details because I’m not on the ground in either of the two places. But based on what we’ve learned from our folks both in Rio De Janeiro and in Paris, we are not yet able to determine whether there were any Americans on board. That’s all the information I have at this point. We will certainly update you all as soon as we have more information.
Yes, Elise.

QUESTION: Can I ask why you can’t get a copy of the manifest? I mean, the U.S. and French have excellent, I guess, cooperation, and especially considering all the TSA regulations and everything with the VISIT program. I mean, you’ve been getting these manifests of flights. I mean, you know everything --

MR. WOOD: Right.

QUESTION: -- about every person that’s on a fight. I just find it a little strange why you weren’t able to --

MR. WOOD: Well, Elise, we will get the manifest. Right now, there is – as you can imagine right now, in both countries, there’s a lot of confusion. There’s chaos. What we’re trying to do is, as I said, ascertain if there were indeed Americans on board. We will be able to get that manifest and we’ll be able to make that determination, but at this point, I just don’t have anything more for you on that.

QUESTION: And you said that there were officials – consular officials at both airports?

MR. WOOD: Yes.

QUESTION: U.S. consular officials?

MR. WOOD: That’s correct.

QUESTION: Okay. And they’re attempting to get the manifest?

MR. WOOD: Absolutely.