Debris 'not from downed jet'

French forces have found no evidence of debris from an Airbus A330 airplane that vanished over the Atlantic with 228 people on board, France's transportation minister said today.

Dominique Bussereau urged "extreme prudence" about suspected debris fished from the ocean.

He said he regretted an announcement by Brazilian teams that they had recovered plane debris from Air France flight 447 turned out to be false.

He told RTL radio that the search will continue and stressed that the priority is finding the flight recorders.

Confusion broke out yesterday after the Brazilian Air Force said a helicopter plucked a cargo pallet from the sea that came from the plane, but then said six hours later that it was not from the Airbus.