An EgyptAir flight from Paris to Cairo disappeared from radar on Thursday, the Egyptian airline said.
According to airlines, there are 56 passengers, seven crew members and three security personnel on board Flight MS804.
An informed source at EGYPTAIR stated that Flight no MS804,which departed Paris at 23:09 (CEST),heading to Cairo has disappeared from radar.
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) May 19, 2016
BBC reported that the Airbus A320 was flying at 37,000ft (11,300m) when it went missing over the eastern Mediterranean. An official said the plane lost contact with radar at 02:45 Cairo time.
The plane has passengers from several countries, but none of Indian origin, as informed by Egypt Airlines.
the passengers' nationalities are as follows:
– 15 French
– 30 Egyptian
– 1 British
– 1 Belgium
– 2 Iraqis
– 1 Kuwaiti
– 1 Saudi— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR) May 19, 2016
Search and rescue operations are currently underway.
EgyptAir says the plane disappeared about 16km into Egyptian air space.
Aviation analyst Alex Macheras told the BBC that Airbus A320s were regularly used for short-haul budget flights and had “an amazing safety record”.
Egypt’s state-run newspaper Ahram has quoted an airport official as saying the last contact with the plane was 10 minutes before it disappeared from radar.
Our last recorded point of contact with #MS804 is 33.6757, 28.7924 at 36,975 feet.https://t.co/6tH4GQzOWU pic.twitter.com/y14vnYgOth
— Flightradar24 (@flightradar24) May 19, 2016
Back in March, EgyptAir Flight 181 en route to Cyprus was hijacked by a passenger claiming to be wearing a suicide belt. The hijacker surrendered at Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus and all passengers were released safely. No one was hurt in the incident, which Cypriot authorities said was not terrorism related.