Egyptian aviation officials said early Thursday morning that EgyptAir flight 804 has crashed, an event that was later confirmed by French President Francois Hollande.
The airline reported the disappearance of a plane that had taken off from Paris, France early Thursday local time and was headed to Cairo, Egypt.
Flight MS804 left Paris at 11:09 p.m. local time, but went missing shortly after entering Egyptian air space over the Mediterranean, according to a tweet from the airline. In a statement, EgyptAir said a distress call was detected nearly two hours after the plane disappeared.
.@EGYPTAIR stating #MS804 has “disappeared from radar”. FR24 flight track: https://t.co/6tH4GQzOWU pic.twitter.com/NteMuuFj1O
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 19, 2016
The airline says 56 passengers and 10 crew members were on the flight, including one child and two infants. Originally EgyptAir reported 69 passengers on board. There were also three security personnel on board, along with seven cabin crew members.
“When we have the truth we need to draw all the conclusions,” Hollande said Thursday morning from Paris. “We have also the duty to know everything about the causes of what has happened, no hypothesis should be ruled out or preferred.”
Greek’s defense minister said Thursday that the plane made “sudden swerves” and “two sharp turns” before it suddenly lost altitude and disappeared from radar.
BREAKING: Greek defense minister: EgyptAir flight made abrupt turns, suddenly lost altitude just before vanishing from radar.
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 19, 2016
As of Thursday morning, the cause of the crash was unknown. “We cannot rule anything out,” Sherif Ismail, Egypt’s prime minister, told reporters at Cairo airport Thursday, adding that there was no distress call.
“I’m not saying that it’s not a terrorist attack, but it’s not confirmed yet,” Sharif Fathi, Egypt’s aviation minister, told reporters.
Last received ADS-B position from #MS804 with Egyptian FIR (Egyptian airspace) boundary overlay. pic.twitter.com/TCGyEM6zT7
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 19, 2016
The French government has been in contact with Egyptian authorities, said French Prime Minister Manuel Valls. “At this stage, no theory can be ruled out regarding the causes of the disappearance,” Valls told RTL radio, adding that France is ready to help with the search.
At approximately 1:35 a.m. Eastern, EgyptAir released an initial manifest with information on the nationalities of the people on the flight: 30 Egyptian, 15 French, two Iraqis, one Briton, one Belgian, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Algerian and one Canadian.
Contact with the aircraft ended about 174 miles off the Egyptian coast, according to EgyptAir. The plane’s last reported altitude was 37,000 feet and had passed 10 miles into Egypt airspace before it faded off the radar at 2:30 a.m. Cairo time. It was expected to arrive at Cairo Airport at 3:15 a.m. local time.
Greece is helping the Egyptian military search for the missing airplane, CNN reported, and some debris has already been found.
EgyptAir shared background information about the pilots and aircraft.
“Noteworthy that the aircraft pilot has 6,275 of flying hours including 2101 flying hours on Airbus 320,” the airline tweeted. “As for the co-pilot he has 2766 flying hours. The manufacturing date of the aircraft in 2003.”
“Special teams from the Egyptian Armed Forces were are at site located for inspection and rescue,” EgyptAir said, adding that it is “following up with the concerned authorities through EGYPTAIR’s IOCC.”
EgyptAir also provided a toll-free number for relatives of the missing passengers.
“EGYPTAIR has offered toll-free numbers for passengers’ relatives as follow:080077770000 from any landline in Egypt,” the airline tweeted. “And +202 25989320 from any mobile phone or from outside Egypt.”
