Fernando de Noronha, Brazil ? An airplane seat, a fuel slick and pieces of white debris scattered over three miles of open ocean marked the site in the mid-Atlantic on Tuesday where Air France Flight 447 plunged to its doom, Brazil’s defense minister said.

Brazilian military pilots spotted the wreckage in the ocean 400 miles northeast of these islands off Brazil’s coast. The plane carrying 228 people vanished Sunday about four hours into its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.

“I can confirm that the five kilometers of debris are those of the Air France plane,” Defense Minister Nelson Jobim told reporters. He said no bodies had been found and there was no sign of life.

The cause of the crash will not be known until the black box recorders are recovered — which could take days or weeks.