EgyptAir flight MS804 disappears from radar between Paris and Cairo – live updates

EgyptAir flight MS804 disappears from radar between Paris and Cairo – live updates
Airline says plane, which took off from France’s Charles de Gaulle airport late on Wednesday night, has gone missing with 66 people on board
Fears for missing EgyptAir flight 804 with 66 people on board
LIVE Updated 4m ago
Egyptair confirmed one of its planes is missing.
Egyptair confirmed one of its planes is missing. Photograph: Ali Haider/EPA
Claire Phipps
Thursday 19 May 2016 08.12 BST

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Key events Show
40m ago What we know so far
50m ago Emergency beacon ‘detected at 4.26am’
1h ago Contact lost 280km from Egyptian coast
2h ago Passenger nationalities
2h ago What we know so far
3h ago One child, two babies on board
3h ago ‘No distress call’
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2h ago
06:41
EgyptAir has also just updated information about the time contact with the plane was lost, now saying it was 2.30am local time (00.30 GMT/01.30 BST/10.30 AEST), and not 2.45am, as it earlier stated.

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2h ago
06:39
Passenger nationalities

EgyptAir has published a list of the 56 passengers on board by nationality:

30 Egyptian
15 French
2 Iraqi
1 British
1 Belgian
1 Kuwaiti
1 Saudi
1 Sudanese
1 Chadian
1 Portuguese
1 Algerian
1 Canadian
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR)
May 19, 2016
وجنسياتهم :
15 فرنسي،
30 مصري،
1 بريطاني،
1 بلجيكي،
2 عراقي،
1 كويتي،
1 سعودي،
1 سوداني،
1 تشادي،
1 برتغالي،
1 جزائري،
1 كندي.

Updated at 6.43am BST
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2h ago
06:30
Lara El Gibaly sends this update from Cairo international airport:

Terminal 3 has been closed off except for passengers. Other flights are operating normally.

According to airport security, the families of passengers of the EgyptAir flight have been relocated to a lounge in terminal 1, where an emergency team is monitoring the situation.

Updated at 6.30am BST
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2h ago
06:26
The New York Times cites Ehab Mohy el-Deen, head of the Egyptian air navigation authority.

He says Greek air traffic controllers notified their Egyptian counterparts that they had lost contact with the plane, the NYT reports.

They did not radio for help or lose altitude. They just vanished.

He said it was too early to speculate on causes and outcomes, “but this is not normal, of course”.

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2h ago
06:22
Here is the scene at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris, where it is currently around 7.20am:

Police take up position at terminal 1.
Police take up position at terminal 1. Photograph: Christian Hartmann/Reuters
The empty Egyptair counter at terminal 1.
The empty Egyptair counter at terminal 1. Photograph: Christian Hartmann/Reuters
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2h ago
06:17
Michael Safi Michael Safi
An EgyptAir passenger jet carrying 66 people has vanished en route to Cairo.

The flight departed from Paris on Wednesday evening and lost contact with ground crews at 2.45am local time, about 16km (10 miles) inside Egyptian airspace.

The 12-year-old Airbus A320-232 was about 40 minutes from its destination. It was the aircraft’s fifth flight of the day, including journeys to Asmara, Eritrea and Carthage in Tunisia.

The airline’s vice-chairman, Ahmed Abdel, told CNN the plane made no distress call.

There were “no recorded snags coming out of Cairo” or reported before leaving Charles de Gaulle, he said.

The captain had also recorded more than 6,000 flying hours, including 2,000 hours in that model, Abdel said. There had not been any special cargo or notification of dangerous goods on board, he added.

Fears for missing EgyptAir flight 804 with 66 people on board
Egyptian, French and British among passengers as search and rescue teams scour area of the Mediterranean where plane vanished
Read more
Updated at 7.39am BST
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2h ago
06:07
Greece has joined the search and rescue operation for the EgyptAir flight, Associated Press reports.

Two aircraft, one C-130 Hercules and one early warning aircraft, have been dispatched, officials at the Hellenic national defence general staff said.

They said one frigate was also heading to the area, and helicopters are on standby on the southern island of Karpathos for potential rescue or recovery operations.

Updated at 6.09am BST
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2h ago
06:03
Airbus, the manufacturer of the missing A320 aircraft, says it has “no further details” on MS804, but will issue a statement later:

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2h ago
05:55
What we know so far

As Europe wakes to news of the missing flight, here is what we know at this point, four hours after the plane lost contact:

Flight MS804, en route from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Cairo, has disappeared from radar.
The plane, an Airbus A320, left Paris at 11.09pm on Wednesday night (21.09 GMT/22.09 BST/07.09am Thursday AEST).
The airline said contact was lost around 16km/10 miles inside Egyptian airspace at 2.45am local time (00.45 GMT/01.45 BST/10.45 AEST).
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.
Search and rescue efforts are underway at the site where contact was lost, around 50-65km (30-40 miles) north of Egypt’s coast.
The plane, on its fifth journey of the day, was travelling at 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar.
EgyptAir says the captain has 6,275 flying hours, including 2,101 on the A320; the copilot has 2,766. The plane was manufactured in 2003.
There is no detail yet on possible reasons for the plane’s disappearance.
Updated at 5.56am BST
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2h ago
05:49
Flight MS804 has now been missing for four hours: last contact was at 02.45 local time. It is now 06.45 in Cairo, where it has been daylight for close to two hours.

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r confirmed one of its planes is missing.
Egyptair confirmed one of its planes is missing. Photograph: Ali Haider/EPA
Claire Phipps
Thursday 19 May 2016 08.12 BST

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Key events Show
37m ago What we know so far
48m ago Emergency beacon ‘detected at 4.26am’
1h ago Contact lost 280km from Egyptian coast
2h ago Passenger nationalities
2h ago What we know so far
3h ago One child, two babies on board
3h ago ‘No distress call’
Live feed Show
2m ago
08:12
The French foreign office has set up an emergency phone line for people worried about relatives and friends on flight MS804:

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6m ago
08:08
The Egyptian prime minister, Sherif Ismail, is at Cairo international airport, EgyptAir says:

(Ismail is a former engineer.)

F T G
18m ago
07:55
The Egyptian navy, air force and coastguard are all involved in the search for the missing plane, reports from Cairo say.

Greece has also joined the search, taking place around 280km north of the Egyptian coast in the Mediterranean, sending two aircraft and a frigate. Greece said it also had helicopters on standby in case rescue operations were necessary.

F T G
23m ago
07:51
There is some confusion over this new distress signal, reported to have been received at 04.26 local time (02.26 GMT).

This is two hours after the last confirmed contact via radar, which was at 02.30 local time (00.30 GMT).

But it is possible that the later signal, which has been described in some reports as a distress call, could have been an automated distress signal from an emergency locator beacon.

F T G
37m ago
07:36
What we know so far

Claire Phipps Claire Phipps
Flight MS804, en route from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Cairo, has disappeared from radar.
EgyptAir says the plane’s emergency devices – possibly an emergency locator transmitter or beacon – sent a signal that was received at 4.26am local time, two hours after the last radar contact.
The plane, an Airbus A320, left Paris at 11.09pm on Wednesday night (21.09 GMT/22.09 BST/07.09am Thursday AEST).
The airline said contact was lost around 16km/10 miles inside Egyptian airspace at 2.30am local time (00.30 GMT/01.30 BST/10.30 AEST).
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.
The airline said among the passengers were 30 Egyptians, 15 French, two Iraqis, and one each from the UK, Belgium, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Chad, Portugal, Algeria and Canada.
Search and rescue efforts are underway at the site where contact was lost, around 280km (175 miles) north of Egypt’s coast. Greece has joined the search and operation.

Flight MS804’s last known location
The plane, on its fifth journey of the day, was travelling at 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar.
EgyptAir says the captain has 6,275 flying hours, including 2,101 on the A320; the copilot has 2,766. The plane was manufactured in 2003.
French prime minister Manuel Valls says “no theory can be ruled out” in investigating the disappearance.
There is no detail yet on possible reasons for the plane’s disappearance.
Updated at 7.40am BST
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48m ago
07:26
Emergency beacon ‘detected at 4.26am’

EgyptAir says that the plane’s emergency devices (possibly an emergency locator transmitter or beacon) sent a distress signal that was received at 4.26am, some two hours after the previously stated last radar contact.

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50m ago
07:23
Matthew Weaver Matthew Weaver
The UK foreign office in London could not confirm reports that a British national was on board the missing the Airbus.

A spokeswoman gave this statement:

Following reports that EgyptAir flight MS804 has gone missing en route from Paris to Cairo, we are in urgent contact with the local authorities in Paris and Cairo to obtain further information.

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1h ago
07:16
French prime minister Manuel Valls says “no theory can be ruled out” in investigating the disappearance of MS804, which left Paris Charles de Gaulle airport late on Wednesday night.

Speaking to RTL radio on Thursday morning, Valls said:

We are in close contact with the Egyptian authorities, both civil and military.

The Egyptian authorities have already sent air reconnaissance teams to the site, and France is ready to help with the search if the Egyptian authorities ask, of course.

At this stage, no theory can be ruled out regarding the causes of the disappearance.

EgyptAir has said 15 of the 56 passengers on board the missing plane are French.

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1h ago
07:02
The French government will hold an emergency meeting in around half an hour to discuss the plane’s disappearance, the French president’s office has said.

President François Hollande has already spoken to his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Hollande’s office said, and the two countries would be cooperating to establish the circumstances of the plane’s disappearance.

F T G
1h ago
06:57
Reports from Egypt suggest search and rescue efforts are focusing on the Mediterranean; Greece is also assisting in the search.

Flightradar24 pinpoints the last recorded point of contact with the plane, which was travelling at just under 37,000 feet:

F T G
1h ago
06:52
Contact lost 280km from Egyptian coast

Updated information from EgyptAir says:

EgyptAir A320 aircraft flight number MS804 lost contact with radar above the Mediterranean sea about 280km (175 miles) from the Egyptian seacoast at 2.30am [local time] as the flight was expected to arrive Cairo airport at 3.15am.

This is quite different to earlier reports from the airline that the last-known contact was around 50km north of the Egyptian coastline.

F T G
1h ago
06:48
— EGYPTAIR (@EGYPTAIR)
May 19, 2016
EGYPTAIR has hosted the passengers’ families near to Cairo Airport and has provided doctors, translators and all the necessary services.

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