Missing Air France Flight Struck by Lightning?

UPDATE: Blog reader Mark says that the Worldwide Lightning Detection Network Map did not indicate any lightning in the area at the time, but even they admit that they only detect 30% of lightning strikes worldwide, and their sensor in Brazil is currently out.

ORIGINAL POST: The Air France flight that went missing off the coast of Brazil last night may have been struck by lightning first, according to Reuters:

We're doing a pretty good job covering the news in our Weather Headlines (PREMIUM | PRO) so I'll just add a couple of things here:

The AP has the details on time and location:

Reuters has a list of recent plane crashes in Brazil. Here's a satellite photo from 3:09 GMT:

You can see scattered thunderstorms in the path of the plane (northeast from Natal) and large groups of thunderstorms in the ITCZ (Intertropical Convergence Zone). These storms are not unusual, in fact they are present nearly year round.

Here's a topographic map - if they plane went into the ocean very far from the island, we're talking thousands of meters of depth, which is not a good thing.

And finally, USAToday says that lightning has not caused the crash of an airliner in the United States in over 40 years.