EgyptAir Flight With 66 Onboard Disappears Over Mediterranean Sea

A passenger plane carrying more than 60 from Paris to Cairo lost communication with flight control Thursday night. French President Francois Hollande stated the plane crashed.

EgyptAir Flight MS804 departed Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris at 11:09 p.m. local time. EgyptAir stated in a press release the flight lost contact with its radar tracking system at 2:45 a.m. over the Mediterranean Sea.

From EgyptAir:

“An informed source at EGYPTAIR reported that EGYPTAIR Flight No. MS 804 has lost communication with radar tracking system at 02:45 (CLT). EGYPTAIR A320 was at a height of 37,000ft, and disappeared after entering the Egyptian airspace with 10 miles.”

NBC News reported that Egypt’s Civil Aviation Minister, Sherif Fathy, said terrorism can’t be ruled out, but did not want to use the term “crash” until debris had been found.

From NBC:

“I haven’t seen, how do you call it, the bodies. I haven’t seen, how do you call it, the wreckage of the aircraft,” he told a press conference. “There might be a high possibility that a crash has been there — and it might be a very high possibility but I’m only trying to use the term that should be used.”

The plane reportedly took a sharp turn just before losing communication as it entered Egyptian airspace, Greece’s Defense Minister, Panos Kammenos, told a press conference, according to NBC News.

EgyptAir confirmed the passenger count in a press release, stating 56 passengers were onboard along with 10 crew members. No U.S. citizens were on the plane.

Authorities continue to investigate the cause of the disappearance.