Search Underway For EgyptAir Flight That Disappeared From Radar
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CAIRO (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - A French surveillance jet has joined the search for an EgyptAir flight that's apparently crashed in the Mediterranean Sea.
EgyptAir Flight 804 was carrying 66 people from Paris to Cairo when it disappeared early this morning.
Egypt's prime minister says he can't "rule out" the possibility that a terrorist attack brought the plane down. He says there was no "distress call" but there was a "signal" from the plane.
A search was launched to find the downed aircraft, but an Israeli newspaper quoted witnesses as saying they saw a fireball in the sky around the time the plane disappeared.
The Greek Defense Minister said the flight abrupt turns, suddenly lost altitude and then vanished from radar.
The airline said via Twitter that Flight MS-804 was climbing to 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar at 2:45 a.m. Cairo time (7:45 p.m. Dallas time).
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
A special crisis center has been set up at Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport for families of passengers of the EgyptAir Flight 804. Greece's Civil Aviation Authority says air traffic controllers tried to contact the plane's pilot for the handover of the plane from Greek controllers to Cairo's area of responsibility, but the aircraft did not respond.
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