gulp.

PARIS, France (CNN) -- The chances of finding any survivors from an Air France passenger jet that disappeared over the Atlantic were "very low," French President Nicolas Sarkozy admitted Monday.

"This is a catastrophe the likes of which Air France has never seen before," he told reporters at Charles de Gaulle International Airport, where he had met with relatives of the missing aboard the flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

"I said the truth to them: the prospects of finding survivors are very low," he said. (cnn)