An EgyptAir flight, MS804, heading from Paris to Cairo, has disappeared from radar, the airline tweeted on Thursday (19th May 2016).
The plane departed from Paris at 11:09pm (5:09am Malaysian time) and was travelling at an altitude of 37,000 feet before disappearing about 10 miles into Egyptian airspace.
It was supposed to have landed in Cairo at 3:15am (9:15am Malaysian time).
According to CNN, it was carrying a total of 69 people – 59 passengers and 10 crew. Flightradar24.com tweeted that the plane was an Airbus A320 and its last known position was above the Mediterranean Sea.
The airline’s media center said it will provide more information as it becomes available. Egypt’s Civil Aviation Ministry said that search and rescue teams have been deployed to look for the plane.
EGYPTAIR media centre will update as more information becomes available.
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) May 19, 2016
Earlier in March, EgyptAir Flight MS181 was taken over by a passenger claiming to be wearing a suicide explosive belt. The man forced the pilot to divert to Cyprus. Airline officials later said that the belt was fake, and that no one was injured in the hijacking.
It turned out the hijacker was hoping the stunt would help him to reunite with his estranged wife.
UPDATE (19th May, 3pm):
Earlier, the airline said that 69 people were on board EgyptAir’s flight MS804. However, the EgyptAir aircraft was in fact carrying 56 passengers in addition to 10 cabin crew members.
This was confirmed by the airline via a statement on their Facebook page, which reads:
UPDATE (20th May, 6:41am)
Egypt’s Civil Aviation ministry says “floating material,” including life jackets and plastic items, have been found in the sea off the Greek island of Karpathos, close to the suspected site of the plane crash. EgyptAir’s flight 804 is believed to have crashed into the Mediterranean sea.
Developing story.
Sources: CNN, Flightradar24, CNA, EgyptAir, TIME, BBC, AP / Featured image: Flightradar24.
