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THE FAMILIES of the victims of flight AF447 arrived first at Notre Dame Cathedral, hidden from the television cameras by the Air France buses that brought them from their hotel at Roissy airport.

The airline sent an e-mail to its employees yesterday morning, asking them to attend the ecumenical service. Hundreds waited in a tense, sombre mood on the esplanade in front of the cathedral, wearing navy-blue uniforms and black ties, some walking arm in arm, with tears in their eyes. “We’re like members of one big family,” said an air hostess. “We are all in mourning. It could have happened to any of us.”