An EgiptAir airplane that was headed for Cairo disappeared from radar near the north coast of Egypt, with 66 people on board. Apparently, the plane has crashed in the Mediterranean.
“A source in the company said that the flight MS804 EgyptAir, which took off from Paris at 11:09 p.m. (CEST), heading for Cairo, disappeared from the radar,” the company wrote on its official feed on Twitter.
An official source said the plane disappeared from the radar Thursday morning at 2:45 a.m. Cairo (0:45 UTC), about 16 km inside Egyptian airspace. Its last known position was at 11,000 meters above the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Cyprus.
EgyptAir said it had contacted Egyptian authorities, adding that military forces carried out search operations for the missing aircraft.
The plane was an Airbus A320-232 which can carry up to 150 passengers, according to its website Flightradar 24. In addition, the airline confirmed that Egyptian Airbus A320 was produced in 2003.
According to the company, the pilot had 6,275 flight hours, including 2,101 with an Airbus 320. The co-pilot had 2766 flight hours. Flight MS804 had 66 people, 10 of which were crew members. Egyptian authorities have not yet identified the cause of the plane’s disappearance.
“At this time we have no other details, but we will provide further information when we can, ” wrote the Airbus company on Twitter.
UPDATE: Egyptian aviation officials said to the news agencies that the plane crashed in the Mediterranean and that they are searching for it as we speak.
Flight MS804 sent an emergency signal about 10 minutes before disappearing completely from the radar, claimed in a statement a spokesman for the airline EgiptAir. The message was received at 2:26 GMT.
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