What we know so far:
As dawn approaches in Egypt, with first light set to assist the search and rescue operation, here is a summary of what we now know about missing EgyptAir flight MS804, which has been missing since 2.30am local time (04.30 GMT) Thursday morning.
EgyptAir has rowed back on an earlier announcement that wreckage belonging to MS804 had been spotted in the Mediterranean, close to the Greek island of Karpathos. “We stand corrected,” the airline’s vice-president Ahmed Adel said. The debris “is not our aircraft”.
The Egyptian navy, air force and army are searching the sea to the north of Egypt’s coast, with French, Greek, British and US support.
Egypt’s aviation minister Sherif Fathy said terrorism was more likely than technical failure to be the cause of the crash. “The possibility of having a terror attack is higher than the possibility of having a technical [problem],” he told reporters.
French president François Holland, Egyptian prime minister Sherif Ismail and the White House also said terrorism could not be ruled out.
No group has claimed responsibility for downing the aircraft.
The plane made “sudden swerves” before dropping off radar over the Mediterranean, Greek defence minister Panos Kammenosaid.The plane made a 90-degree turn left, and then dropped from 37,000 feet to 15,000 feet before swerving 360 degrees right.
The plane was carrying 56 passengers and 10 crew: two cockpit crew, five cabin crew and three security personnel. The airline said two babies and one child were on board. Among the passengers were30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, and one person each from the UK, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria and Canada.
The plane, on its fifth journey of the day, was traveling at 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar. It had made a stop in Tunisia before flying to Paris.
EgyptAir says the captain – named as Mohamed Said Shoukair –has 6,275 flying hours, including 2,101 on the A320; the copilot,Mohamed Mamdouh Ahmed, has 2,766. The plane was manufactured in 2003.
