Egyptian and Greek search teams continue to scour the area of the Mediterranean Sea where they suspect an Egyptair Airbus A320 crashed while on its way from Paris to Cairo carrying 66 passengers and crewmembers. Operating as Flight MS804, the jet disappeared from radar at about 2:45 a.m. local time on Thursday, soon after passing through Greek airspace. French President François Hollande later confirmed that it had crashed.
Greek defense minister Panos Kammenos said radar detected the Airbus jet turning 90 degrees to the left, followed by a 360-degree spin to the right. After the aircraft plummeted from 37,000 feet to 15,000, controllers lost radar contact. Egyptian officials cautioned against any speculation about terrorism as the possible cause, while Egyptair issued what amounted to an admonishment of “misleading” news accounts.
“Egyptair denies all misleading information published by news web sites and on the social media channels regarding the reasons [for] the disappearance of Egyptair Flight MS804 and the company confirms that the reason [for] disappearance hasn't been yet [been] confirmed,” said the airline in a statement.
Egyptian aviation security practices have undergone scrutiny since a Metrojet A321 crashed soon after taking off from Sharm el-Sheikh on its way to St. Petersburg, Russia, on October 31. Although British and U.S. authorities later concluded a bomb brought down the airplane, Egypt has yet to officially declare terrorism as the cause.
Airbus delivered the aircraft involved in the latest crash, MSN 2088, to Egyptair in November 2003. Powered by IAE engines, it had accumulated approximately 48,000 flight hours. The manufacturer said it stands ready to provide full technical assistance to the French investigation agency BEA and Egyptian authorities in charge of the investigation.