An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo with
66 passengers and crew on board which disappeared from radar early Thursday
morning, has crashed, Egyptian aviation officials were quoted as saying by AP.
The officials say the search is now
underway for the debris. They say the “possibility that the plane crashed has
been confirmed,” as the plane hasn’t landed in any of the nearby airports.
The officials spoke on condition of
anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the press.
EgyptAir Flight 804 was lost from radar at
2:45 a.m. local time when it was flying at 37,000 feet, the airline said. It
said the Airbus A320 had vanished 10 miles (16 kilometers) after it entered
Egyptian airspace.
Rescue services from the Egyptian armed
forces reported receiving a distress signal at 04:26 am local time (0226 GMT)
from the EgyptAir plane that went missing overnight.
Egyptian military aircraft were searching
for the plane, which was carrying 56 passengers, including one child and two
babies, and 10 crew members. The pilot had 6,000 flight hours. Earlier, the
airline said 69 people were on board.
EgyptAir later said those on board included
15 French passengers, 30 Egyptians, one Briton, two Iraqis, one Kuwaiti, one
Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Belgian, one Algerian and
one Canadian.
France remains under a state of emergency
after Islamic extremist attacks killed 130 people in a spree of attacks in
November claimed by the extremist Islamic State group.
Greece joined the search and rescue
operation for the EgyptAir flight with two aircraft: one C-130 and one early
warning aircraft, officials at the Hellenic National Defense General Staff
said. They said one frigate was also heading to the area, and helicopters are
on standby on the southern island of Karpathos for potential rescue or recovery
operations.
