EgyptAir, the national airline of Egypt, said that one of its planes heading from Paris to Cairo crashed Wednesday night.
The airline said a search and rescue team is being assembled.
According to the airline, the Airbus A320 carrying 66 passengers had apparently reached an elevation of 37,000 feet around the moment it disappeared from radar.
The Associated Press reported that Egyptian officials said the aircraft crashed:
Egyptian aviation officials say EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo carrying 66 passengers and crew has crashed - APbreakingnews.com/t/BanL
He said: "They did not radio for help or lose altitude. They just vanished."
EgyptAir released the the nationalities of the passengers on board: 30 Egyptian, 15 French, two Iraqi, one British, one Belgian, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Algerian, one Canadian.
In an interview on CNN, EgyptAir vice chairman Ahmed Adel said there were 53 adults and three children on board, plus 10 crew members consisting of three security members, five cabin crew, and the pilot and co-pilot.
Adel said search-and-rescue teams are headed to an area about 30 miles north of the Egyptian coast — the location where the jet is believed to have disappeared.
"There was nothing unusual. It was a routine flight," Adel said.
this shot from flight radar appears to indicate where@EGYPTAIR #MS804 disappeared from radar screens@Claire_Phipps
The plane's last known position was above the Mediterranean Sea, according to FlightRadar24. Weather conditions in the area were "clear and calm," CNN meteorologist Michael Guy noted.
Airbus tweeted "We are aware of media reports" concerning the EgyptAir flight, but said it had no further details.
The Guardian reported that the French government will hold an emergency meeting at around 7:30 a.m. UK time (8:30 a.m CET) to discuss the plane’s disappearance. President François Hollande spoke to his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, according to the Guardian.The two countries would be cooperating to establish the circumstances of the plane’s disappearance.
EgyptAir has set up phone numbers for relatives of Flight 804 passengers to receive updates:
An informed source at EGYPTAIR declared that its flight number MS804 had 56 passengers on board.
An informed source at EGYPTAIR declared that its flight number MS804 had 56 passengers on board.
Flights over Egypt have encountered trouble on several occasions in recent history, prompting aviation authorities to instruct pilots to fly over 26,000 feet in the region.
In October, a Russian airliner crashed in northern Egypt, killing all 224 people on board. In March this year, an EgyptAir flight was hijacked and forced to land in Cyprus, prompting an hours-long standoff. No one was harmed in that incident.
The last fatal EgyptAir crash happened in 2002 when a Boeing 737 went down near Tunis-Carthage International Airport, killing 14.
Bloomberg tweeted some useful information about the Airbus A320 line of aircraft:
#MS804 pilot made distress call before communication lost,#EgyptAir says. Latest coverage bloom.bg/1sAr1wNpic.twitter.com/c09bNobJh1
#EgyptAir's missing flight #MS804 is an A320. Here are some basics about the plane type bloom.bg/1sAr1wNpic.twitter.com/OMqAJolmpw
An informed source at EGYPTAIR reported that EGYPTAIR Flight No MS 804 has lost communication with radar tracking system at 02:45 (CLT)
