Photograph — cbsnewyork

“An informed source at EgyptAir reported that EgyptAir Flight No. MS 804 has lost communication with the radar tracking system at 02:45 (CLT),” EgyptAir tweeted in the early hours of this morning, at 4:40am precisely.

Here’s what is known so far:

  • The missing Flight MS 804 of EgyptAir was en route to Cairo from Paris. The airplane departed the French capital at 11.09pm (CEST).
  • The flight had 66 people on board; 56 passengers and 10 crew members, 53 adults, a child, and two infants.
  • The plane disappeared 16 kilometres/10 miles into Egyptian airspace having lost contact with radar at 2.45am Cairo time (1.45am BST).
  • It was due to land at 3:15am Cairo time.
  • The flight was at 37,000 feet when it disappeared off the route of a journey that is supposed to last about three hours and 45 minutes. Experts say the disappearance at that height is unusual, and that something must have “gone quite seriously wrong on board.”
  • Data from Flight radar indicates that the plane’s altitude didn’t change significantly in the moments leading up to its disappearance.
  • The plane was manufactured in 2003. The pilot holds a record of 6,275 hours of flight experience, and the co-pilot, 2,766 hours of experience. The aircraft type is also said to have a good safety record.
  • There are no details, or official statement yet as to the possible reason for flight MS804’s disappearance. But there are speculations that it might have crashed into the sea.
  • Search and rescue efforts are underway. Experts say the search and rescue team should be able to narrow down the search quite easily.

Two months ago, an EgyptAir flight was hijacked by a man who forced it to land in Cyprus under the threat that he had on a suicide belt. Authorities later confirmed that the belt was fake. And last October a Russian flight A321 crashed in Egypt’s Sinai region with 224 people on board. According to Russia, the plane which went down in central Sinai shortly after losing radar contact, was shot down as an act of terrorism, but Egyptian authorities denied this saying its investigations showed no sign of terrorism.

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