EgyptAir Flight disappears from radar during Paris to Cairo flight
MAY 20, 20162:56AM
- French President confirms plane has crashed
- EgyptAir Flight MS804 was carrying 66 people
- Plane took off from Paris bound for Cairo
- Aircraft dropped from radar screens at 37,000 feet
- Conflicting reports plane sent distress signal
- Greek Merchant Navy reports “flame in the sky”
SEARCHERS have found the wreckage of EgyptAir Flight MS804, airline Vice President Ahmed Adel told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview from Cairo on Thursday.
Experts say terrorism is likely given the plane plunged 22,000 feet, spun 360 degrees and then vanished.
The EgyptAir passenger plane from Paris to Cairo crashed into the Mediterranean Sea with 66 people on board and was likely brought down by terrorists, experts say.
The White House has offered assistance to European and Middle East allies, saying that the Department of Homeland and Security and TSA have been in contact with foreign ministries and aviation departments to help improve security measures.
Press secretary Josh Earnest says though that it’s too early to say what could have caused the EgyptAir crash. “We have seen a desire on the part of extremists around the world, including some extremists in the Middle East, to carry out attacks targeting the international aviation system. We obviously are mindful of that.”
Flight MS804 departed Charles de Gaulle Airport at 11.09pm local time (7:10am AEDT) but disappeared from radar screens over the Mediterranean Sea at 2:30am local time (10:30 AEDT) around 16 kilometres into Egyptian airspace.
Tarek Wahba, an Egyptian ship captain whose vessel, the Maersk Ahram, participated in search and rescue operations after the disappearance of EgyptAir flight MS804, shared images on Facebook, described as showing debris from the flight. The images show a yellow object floating in the water, however News Corp Australia has been unable so far to confirm if the object is from flight MS804.
EgyptAir says it still has no confirmation that debris had been found, despite Greek defence sources telling multiple news agencies about two large floating plastic objects.
At a press conference in Paris, French President Francois Hollande said all the information gathered so far indicated that flight MS804 crashed — but, he said, no hypothesis as to the cause has been ruled out. Many families are en route to Cairo.
“The information we have gathered — ministers, members of government and, of course, the Egyptian authorities — confirm, sadly, that it has crashed. It is lost.”
The New York Times reported that ISIS has not claimed responsibility for the crash,
It came as Greek state-run TV said debris from the flight had been found 230 nautical miles (370 kilometres) west of the island of Crete.
Two objects appeared to be pieces of plastic in white and red, Greek defence sources said. They were spotted close to an area where a transponder signal was emitted earlier.
However some have doubted whether the find is from MS804 given winds would send debris in a different direction.
Greece’s civil aviation authority issued a statement saying that the pilot of the fated EgyptAir plane was “in good spirits” when the country’s air traffic controllers made contact with crew.
“The pilot was in good spirits and thanked [us] in Greek,” the civil aviation authority said.
Grieving relatives of passengers wait outside a services hall at Cairo airport.Source:AFP
Greece’s Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said data retrieved showed the missing plane made “sudden swerves” before it dropped off the radar.
“It turned 90 degrees left and then a 360 degree turn toward the right, dropping from 38,000 to 15,000 feet and then it was lost at about 10,000 feet,” he said.
Search and rescue team searching for the plane in the Mediterranean have arrived at the point where an electronic signal was last received. No trace of the plane has been found so far.
There were 56 passengers on board Flight MS804 — including one child and two babies — plus seven crew members and three security personnel.
A relative wipes her tears as she is comforted at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.Source:AP
Security expert Jean-Paul Troadec, the former chief of the BEA, France’s air accident investigation unit, said the incident was likely to be a “brutal event”.
He told Europe 1 radio station in Paris: “A technical problem, a fire or a failed motor do not cause an instant accident and the team has time to react.
“The team said nothing, they did not react, so it was very probably a brutal event and we can certainly think about an attack.”
Alexander Bortnikov, head of Russia’s Federal Security Service, called for governments to come together to track down those responsible for the “monstrous attack”, which he said was a terror attack “in all likelihood."
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said on Thursday the crash appeared to be “yet another terrorist attack.”
“Looks like yet another terrorist attack. Airplane departed from Paris,” Trump posted on Twitter.
“When will we get tough, smart and vigilant? Great hate and sickness!”
Search and rescue efforts are underway at the site where contact was lost, about 280km north of Egypt’s coast. Greece has joined the search operation.
There have conflicting reports that Egyptian authorities received a distress signal two hours after the missing plane disappeared from radar screens.
EgyptAir reported that a signal was received from the plane’s emergency devices. But
a statement posted on the official Facebook page of the Egyptian army said the army did not receive a distress signal from the plane.
Families of passengers who were flying in an EgyptAir plane that vanished from radar en route from Paris to Cairo react as they wait outside a services hall at Cairo airport. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
Greek officials are investigating reports from residents on a Greek island that they saw a ball of fire in the sky. Sailors from the Greek Merchant Navy also reported seeing a “flame in the sky”.
The flight left Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris at 11.09pm local time – for a journey time of around three hours and 45 minutes.
It was the fifth flight for the plane that day — earlier it had flown from Amsara to Cairo, then Cairo to Tunis. At 11.47am local time it flew from Tunis to Cairo, before heading from Cairo to Paris.
An EGYPTAIR official declared that EGYPTAIR A320 aircraft in its flight number MS804 lost contact with radar above the Mediterranean Sea.
An EGYPTAIR official declared that EGYPTAIR A320 aircraft in its flight number MS804 lost contact with radar above the Mediterranean Sea.
Earlier, Australian Government officials were making urgent inquiries with local authorities to determine whether any Australians are on board the missing flight. However, Egypt Air lists no Australians on board. They included 15 French passengers, 30 Egyptians, two Iraqis, one Briton, one Kuwaiti, one Saudi, one Sudanese, one Chadian, one Portuguese, one Belgian, one Algerian and one Canadian as being on the flight.
The Guardian reports that families have started to leave Cairo airport frustrated by a lack of answers.
A relative of a passenger who was flying aboard an EgyptAir plane that vanished from radar en route from Paris to Cairo overnight cries as family members are transported by bus to a gathering point at Cairo airport. Picture: AFPSource:AFP
“They haven’t said anything to us. We have no information,” said Mervat Mounir, whose relative Samar Ezzeldin was one of the seven Egyptian cabin crew on board. The 27-year-old had been a flight attendant with Egypt air for two years and recently got married.
In a statement, the airline said the aircraft’s chief pilot has 6275 hours of flying experience while the assistant pilot has clocked up 2766 hours.
Airbus, the plane’s manufacturer, issued a statement saying the firm’s concerns “go to all those affected.
Search and rescue teams from the Egyptian Armed Forces are being assembled and Greek authorities are also taking part in the rescue operations.
A crisis centre for relatives of the passengers has been set up near Cairo Airport, the airline said.
While there is no evidence yet to indicate a terrorist attack, seven months ago a Russian airliner was bombed by ISIS as it flew over Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and weeks ago an EgyptAir plane was hijacked and taken to Cyprus by a man wearing a fake suicide belt.
An informed source at EGYPTAIR reported that EGYPTAIR Flight No MS 804 has lost communication with radar tracking system at 02:45 (CLT)
Discussion on the online Professional Pilots Rumour Network suggested that the plane was travelling through clear weather and its speed increased prior to it disappearing from radar.
EgyptAir flight number MS804 lost contact with radar at 02:45 Cairo time.Source:AP
The incident comes after French authorities beefed up airport security in the wake of the Brussels bombings in March.
France’s Toulouse-Blagnac Airport was evacuated days after the Brussels bombings when a suspicious-looking suitcase was found by security staff.
Last November, The Sunday Times reported that the security passes of 86,000 workers at Charles de Gaulle Airport would be reviewed after it was found that 57 employees with access to airliners were on a terror watch list.
Latest statement: Pilot had 6,275 flying hours; assistant pilot had 2,766 flying hours facebook.com/EGYPTAIR/posts…
EgyptAir has a poor safety record. The airline has a notorious history of hijackings dating back to August 1976 when a Cairo to Luxor flight was hijacked by three armed gunmen and had to be stormed by commandos.
Security has been tight at Charles-de-Gaulle airport. Picture: AFPSource:Supplied
In October 2009 a Sudanese man pulled a knife on a flight attendant and was overpowered by two security officials on a flight from Istanbul to Cairo, The Independent reports.
In another incident in 2000, a man on a flight bound for Aswan claimed he had a bomb and demanded to be taken to Afghanistan before he was over-powered by the crew.
In addition to a string of incidents involving Air Egypt, the alarming state of Egyptian airport security was brought into shocking focus late last year, when terrorists blew a Russian plane out of the sky, killing all 224 people aboard.
The Airbus A321, operated by Kogalymavi airline, came down over Egypt’s Sinai desert after explosives were smuggled aboard it at Sharm el-Sheikh airport — the main flight hub for tourists heading to the popular seaside resort.
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