Flew over Croatia too: Plane with 66 passengers disappeared on Paris-Cairo flight

An EgyptAir plane that took off on Wednesday evening from Paris to Cairo has disappeared from radar.

"A well-informed source in EgyptAir said that the plane on flight MS804, which took off from Paris at 23:09 towards Cairo, disappeared from radar," the company stated on its official Twitter profile, reports the Patria News Agency. 

The plane, an Airbus A320, carries 59 passengers and 7 crew members. Among the passengers were three children.

The plane, flying at an altitude of 11,280 meters, disappeared at 2:45 AM, twenty minutes before it was scheduled to land at 3:05 AM, after it had already entered Egyptian airspace. EgyptAir also stated that the plane flying at an altitude of 11,280 meters was last seen over the Mediterranean Sea. According to a map published by the LA Times, it also flew over Croatia.

Egyptian authorities say an intensive search for the plane is underway. The plane was built in 2003, and the pilot had 6,275 flight hours, of which 2,101 hours were on that specific model. The co-pilot had 2,766 flight hours.

The Egyptian Ministry of Civil Aviation stated that search and rescue teams are looking for the missing plane. A source in the ministry also said that technical data about the condition of the 12-year-old Airbus A320 is being collected.

The New York Times quotes the head of the Egyptian aviation authorities, Ehab Mohy el-Din, who said that Greek air traffic controllers had warned their Egyptian counterparts that they had lost contact with the plane. "They did not ask for help. They just disappeared."

A spokesperson for the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that checks are being carried out but that the ministry has no further information at this time. Although French aviation authorities were unavailable for comment, a source at a French airport said that the only thing known is that the plane did not land, writes Index.