An EgyptAir plane which went missing with 66 people on board, had probably crashed into the sea off the southern Greek island of Karpathos. The Airbus A320 aircraft was on way Cairo from Paris.
While no debris has been seen in the area, several aircraft and a frigate have been deployed in the area to search the area.
A Greek defense ministry source said the authorities had started investigating after the Captain of a merchant ship who reported seeing a “flame in the sky” 130 nautical miles south of the island of Karpathos.
“The search and rescue aircraft from the Egyptian air force are at the position where we lost contact. They are still looking and so far there is nothing found,” EgyptAir vice chairman Ahmed Adel has said.
Egypt’s state newspaper Ahram reported that there had been no distress call from the plane and the last contact with the pilot was about 10 minutes before the aircraft disappeared.
Flight MS804
“An official source at EgyptAir stated that Flight MS804, which departed Paris at 23:09 (CEST), heading to Cairo has disappeared from radar,” the airline said on its official Twitter account.
Later tweets by EgyptAir said the plane, which was travelling at an altitude of 37,000 feet, disappeared in Egyptian air space at 02.30 am local time, around 280 km from the Egyptian coastline. It was due to land at 03.15 am.
With its ancient archeological sites and Red Sea resorts, Egypt is a popular destination for Western tourists. But the industry was badly hit following the downing of a Russian jet last year, the ongoing Islamist insurgency and a string of bomb attacks in the country.
The last fatal incident involving an EgyptAir aircraft was in May 2002, when a Boeing 737 crashed into a hill while on approach to Tunis-Carthage International Airport, killing 14 people.
Possible terror attack
According to telegraph.co.uk, Flight MS804 left Paris Charles de Gaulle for Cairo at 11.09pm Wednesday, and lost contact with radar at 00.45 GMT – ten miles after entering Egyptian air space.
Egyptian aviation officials say the plane ‘crashed’ and that a search for debris is underway.
A terror attack is the most likely cause of the crash, according to aviation experts.
This was the second major incident to hit airline this year after one of its planes was hijacked in March.
As theguardian.com reports, French French President Fran?ois Holland Flight confirmed that the plane crashed and that terrorism could not be ruled out.
Greek defence minister said the plane made “sudden swerves” before dropping off radar over the Mediterranean. No debris has yet been found.
Emergency signal
Egypt’s minister of civil aviation, Sherif Fathy, says the plane should be regarded as “missing” until debris is found. Search is focused near the Greek island of Karpathos, he added: Fathy said a terror attack or technical problems could not be ruled out.
EgyptAir says the plane’s emergency devices – possibly an emergency locator transmitter or beacon – sent a signal that was received at 4.26am local time, two hours after the last radar contact.
The airline said contact was lost around 16km/10 miles inside Egyptian airspace at 2.30am local time (00.30 GMT) amid growing fears that the plane came down in the Mediterranean. Airbus issued a statement regretting the loss of the aircraft.
Among the passengers were 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, and one each from the UK, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria and Canada. Britain’s foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, confirmed that a British passport holder was on board the plane.
The plane, on its fifth journey of the day, was travelling at 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar.
EgyptAir says the captain has 6,275 flying hours, including 2,101 on the A320; the copilot has 2,766. The plane was manufactured in 2003.
State security investigation
Egypt’s prosecutor general has ordered a state security investigation into the missing plane. Meanwhile, Egypt’s aviation minister Sherif Fathy continues to bat away question.
“When I have facts I will tell you the facts,” Fathy tells an increasingly rowdy press conference. “What else can I do?” he asks reporters.
Earlier Fathy said a terror attack or technical problems could not be ruled out as possible causes of the crash. Fathy said he did not know where the plane was.
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