Egypt, May 19, 2016 – Search and rescue operation is underway in the Mediterranean sea, where Egypt Air, Flight MS804 crashed early today with 66 people on board.
The flight took off from Paris at 11:09 pm on Wednesday and was scheduled to land at the Cairo International Airport at 3:15 but disappeared from radar at 2:45 am.
The plane which was cruising at 37,000 feet vanished just hours before it was due to land.
The airline said nationalities on board the plane are 15 French, 30 Egyptian, 1 British, 1 Belgium, 2 Iraqis, 1 Kuwaiti, 1 Saudi, 1 Sudanese, 1 Chadian, 1 Portuguese, 1 Algerian and 1 Canadian.
It added that EGYPTAIR crisis center is following up with the concerned authorities and that EGYPTAIR will issue any additional information once available.
“An EGYPTAIR official declared that EGYPTAIR A320 aircraft in its flight number MS804 lost contact with radar above the Mediterranean Sea about 280 KM from the Egyptian seacoast at 02:30 am CLT as the flight was expected to arrive Cairo Airport at 03:15 am CLT”, the airline said online.
Officials of the airline noted that the cause is still unknown but that the pilot had more than 6,000 hours of flight experience while the co-pilot had nearly 3,000 flying hours. There was no adverse weather at the time the jet disappeared.
French President Francois Hollande said at a press conference that everything will be done to find the plane just as Greek and Egyptian search teams are now looking for survivors near the Greek island of Karpathos, east of Crete.
“We must do everything to find crash debris…When we have the truth, we will draw our conclusions; whether this was an accident or something else, perhaps terrorist. We will have the truth,” French President Francois Hollande said at a news conference.
Also speaking, Egypt’s Minister of Aviation, Mr. Sherif Fathi noted that though there has been assumptions, he said that there are strong evidence that the cause could be related to terrorism than a technical fault.
The airline said relations of those on board can call the following numbers: 080077770000 from any landline in Egypt. +202 25989320 from any mobile phone or from outside Egypt Media center numbers: 01006496701 01006384402 01065020122.
