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 onboard

• Fears for missing EgyptAir flight 804 with 66 people on board

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:

— Paris-CDG (@CDGinfo)

May 19, 2016

francediplo: Disparition du vol #EgyptAir - Le ministère des Affaires étrangères a ouvert une cellule de crise : 01 43 17 55 95

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6m ago

08:08

The Egyptian prime minister, Sherif Ismail, is at Cairo international airport, EgyptAir says:

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Engineer Ismael was presented with a detailed briefing about the situation from the crisis team

12:05 PM - 19 May 2016

 
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and he has directed all the concerned authorities to take all necessary action for dealing with the crisis.

12:05 PM - 19 May 2016

 
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(Ismail is a former engineer.)

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19m ago

07:55

The Egyptian navy, air force, and coast guard 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.

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24m ago

07:51

There is some confusion over this new distress signal, reported 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.

What we know so far

 

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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43m 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.