An EgyptAir flight that vanished from radar at 2:30am Cairo time has most likely crashed into the Mediterranean Sea.
Associated Press reports that Ihab Raslan, a spokesperson for the Egyptian civil aviation agency, told SkyNews Arabia that the Airbus A320 most likely crashed into the sea while on route from Paris.
This graphic from Flightradar24 appears to show the last received position from flight MS804 before air traffic controllers lost contact.
Last received ADS-B position from #MS804 with Egyptian FIR (Egyptian airspace) boundary overlay. pic.twitter.com/TCGyEM6zT7
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 19, 2016
The New York Times reports that Ehab Mohy el-Deen, head of the Egyptian civil navigation authority, said that Greek air traffic controllers notified their Egyptian counterparts when they lost contact.
“They did not radio for help or lose altitude. They just vanished,” he said.
Although details are murky at this stage – the passenger and crew list has already been revised from 69 to 66 – the airline has published details of most of the nationalities on board the flight, and Australia is not included.
The missing people include 30 Egyptian, 15 French, 2 Iraqi, 1 British, 1 Belgian, 1 Sudanese, 1 Chadian, 1 Portuguese and 1 Algerian. Three children are believed to be on board.
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1 ????.— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) May 19, 2016
Families are gathering at Cairo Airport, where EgyptAir has provided doctors, translators, and necessary services. Meanwhile, search and rescue teams are out looking for the missing plane.
More on this story as it develops.
Photo: Google.
