EgyptAir flight lost off Greece
Flight with 66 on board disappears from radar over Mediterranean Sea
CAIRO/ATHENS: An EgyptAir jet carrying 66 passengers and crew from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar over the Mediterranean Sea on Thursday after swerving in mid-air and plunging from cruising height. French President Francois Hollande confirmed the aircraft “came down and is lost”.
Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail announced a search was underway for the missing Airbus A320 but it was too early to rule out any explanation, including an attack like the one blamed for bringing down a Russian airliner over Egypt’s Sinai peninsula last year.
Officials with the airline and the Egyptian civil aviation department told Reuters they believed the Airbus had crashed into the Mediterranean between Greece and Egypt.
In Athens, Greek defence minister Panos Kammenos said the Airbus had first swerved 90 degrees to the left, then spun through 360 degrees to the right. After plunging from 37,000 to 15,000 feet, it vanished from Greek radar screens.
Greece deployed aircraft and a frigate to the area to help with the search. A defence ministry source said authorities were also investigating an account from the captain of a merchant ship who reported a ‘flame in the sky’ about 130 nautical miles south of the island of Karpathos.
There were reports that possible debris from the plane had been found in the Mediterranean. “There have been finds south-east of Crete, inside the Cairo flight information area,” a Greek army spokesman said.
Earlier, a Greek frigate searching for the aircraft discovered two large plastic objects floating in the sea about 230 miles south of the island of Crete. The area is now the centre of a major international operation involving C-130 aircraft and at least eight boats.
The aircraft was carrying 56 passengers — with one child and two infants among them — and 10 crew members, EgyptAir said.