The aircraft departed from
Fort de France, Martinique at 14:50
GMT on 31 July, and was due to arrive at
Port-Etienne,
French West Africa at 01:00 GMT on 1 August. It was carrying a crew of twelve and 40 passengers. Two Air France aircraft, a
French Air Force aircraft and a
French Navy ship were sent to search for the aircraft. The
United States Coast Guard sent to assist in the search. Two
Portuguese Air Force Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses also joined the search. The
United States Air Force sent a Flying Fortress and seven
Boeing B-29 Superfortresses to join the search. On 3 August, the French
weather ship Leverrier reported receiving a distress message from the aircraft. A second message was received early the next morning. The American Flying Fortress also reported receiving a "faint and garbled" distress message that day. The search for survivors was called off on 9 August. Following the accident, which was the worst crash in the Atlantic Ocean at the time and also the worst ever suffered by the Latécoère 631, the type was withdrawn from service by Air France. ==References==