Egyptian Plane With 66 Aboard Crashes; Terrorism Suspected

Egyptian Plane With 66 Aboard Crashes; Terrorism Suspected
Family members of passengers who were flying aboard an EgyptAir plane that vanished from radar en route from Paris to Cairo overnight get ready to be transported by bus to a gathering point at Cairo airport on May 19, 2016. KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images
The Associated Press
Updated:

CAIRO— An EgyptAir jetliner bound from Paris to Cairo with 66 people aboard crashed in the Mediterranean Sea early Thursday after swerving wildly in flight, authorities said, and Egypt said it may have been a terrorist attack.

There were no immediate signs of survivors.

EgyptAir Flight 804, an Airbus A320 with 56 passengers and 10 crew members, went down about halfway between the Greek island of Crete and Egypt’s coastline after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle Airport, authorities said.

Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos said the plane spun all the way around and suddenly lost altitude just before vanishing from radar screens around 2:45 a.m. Egyptian time.

He said it made a 90-degree left turn, then a full 360-degree turn toward the right, plummeting from 38,000 to 15,000 feet. It disappeared at about 10,000 feet, he said.

An Egyptian search plane later located two orange items believed to be from the aircraft, 230 miles southeast of Crete, a Greek military official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations.

In Cairo, Egyptian Civil Aviation Minister Sherif Fathi cautioned that the disaster was still under investigation, but he said the possibility it was a terror attack “is higher than the possibility of having a technical failure.”

Alexander Bortnikov, chief of Russia’s top domestic security agency, said: “In all likelihood it was a terror attack.”

In this Tuesday, March 29, 2016, file photo, the hijacked aircraft of Egyptair after landing at Larnaca airport, Cyprus. A similar Airbus A320 EgyptAir plane from Paris to Cairo carrying 66 people disappeared from radar early Thursday morning, the airline said. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
In this Tuesday, March 29, 2016, file photo, the hijacked aircraft of Egyptair after landing at Larnaca airport, Cyprus. A similar Airbus A320 EgyptAir plane from Paris to Cairo carrying 66 people disappeared from radar early Thursday morning, the airline said. AP Photo/Petros Karadjias